Porsche formalized the end of its relationship with the Volkswagen Group by completing the sale of its 45% stake in Bugatti Rimac, the joint venture responsible for manufacturing hypercars. This action ended the last link between the French brand and the German conglomerate on Wednesday, the 9th.
The transaction, approved by regulatory bodies, generated approximately one billion euros (about R$ 5.9 billion) for the Stuttgart automaker. Furthermore, Porsche divested from the 20.6% it held in Rimac Group. The assets were acquired by an international consortium led by HOF Capital, based in New York, and BlueFive Capital from Abu Dhabi, which is the largest investor.
Although the connection was indirect, it existed: Volkswagen AG held 75.4% of Porsche AG's capital, a stake maintained through Porsche Holding Stuttgart. While Porsche was a partner in Bugatti Rimac, the VW Group maintained a part of the French brand in the chain. With the exit of this stake, the link is broken, causing Bugatti to be responsible only to the Rimac Group, which already held 55% of the joint venture, and the new investors.
No other brand of the German group, such as Audi, Bentley, Lamborghini, Ducati, or Porsche itself, maintains this connection with Bugatti.
Volkswagen acquired the rights to Bugatti in 1998, during the management of Ferdinand Piëch, and financed the brand's resurgence with models like the Veyron in 2005 and the Chiron in 2016. Both used the W16 8.0 quad-turbo engine, developed internally by the group. In November 2021, there was an adjustment that established Bugatti Rimac, transferring the brand to the new entity and ceasing its treatment as a subsidiary.
The technical separation occurred later. The Tourbillon, launched in 2024 as the successor to the Chiron, abandoned the W16 and introduced a naturally aspirated V16 8.3 engine, created in collaboration with the British Cosworth, without using standard components from the Volkswagen Group. With electric motors, this setup reaches a power of 1,800 hp.
For Porsche, this divestment aligns with the strategy of focusing on the core business, as advocated by Michael Leiters, who took over the company's leadership on January 1st. In August, the automaker had already sold the MHP consultancy to Tata Consultancy Services, an Indian company. This move occurs after 2025, the year when the group's operating margin fell by 14.1% to 1.1%, pressured by tariffs in the United States, declining sales in China, and costs associated with realigning the electrification strategy.