Volkswagen News - Porsche proposal busts Bugatti

November 30, 2006 by tsikot

, Sports/GTs, Supercars, Bugatti, Porsche, Volkswagen, Earnings/Financials

That Porsche owns a significant stake in the Volkswagen group (and all its subsidiaries) is no secret. In fact, Porsche is even in the process of increasing its stake. Oddly, though, little seemed to be done to minimize the competition presented to Porsche products by those of VW divisions: Lamborghini Gallardo vs. Porsche 911 Turbo, Audi TT vs. Porsche Boxster and Cayman, Audi Q7 vs. Porsche Cayenne, etc. But now Porsche is reportedly taking aim at an easy target: Bugatti.

Truth be told, it’s really Bugatti’s lack of profitability that Porsche is targeting. Porsche remains one of the only sportscar manufacturers that generates profit (copious amounts of it, actually), while Bugatti loses VW money continuously. The development costs of the super-expensive Veyron were to be offset by the application of technology towards future Bugatti vehicles (like a new saloon or four-door coupe), but if Porsche gets its way, a new Bugatti will never see the light of day, with Stuttgart evidently preferring to cut their loses (and a competing supercar maker).

Volkswagen would be unlikely to find a buyer for Bugatti even if Porsche applied enough pressure for them to sell. Stuttgart’s proposal, then, would be to turn the exclusive marque even more exclusive, as a coachbuilder, creating unique one-off vehicles (like Jim Glickenhaus’ Ferrari P4/5 by Pininfarina) for over $4 million a piece. And here we thought the existing Veyron was expensive….

[Source: Car magazine via Motor Authority]

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