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The Volkswagen Group is not doing so well at the moment. Sales have not gone according to plan in 2024 with regard to the different brands, with major declines in volume and especially in margin that have forced the board to revise its forecast for the end of the current year by reporting estimates quite different from those assumed at the end of 2023. A complicated scenario that will lead to heavy cost cutting, the closure of a production plant and the layoff of thousands of workers especially in Germany.
The drop in sales for Audi in volume terms is expected to be around 16 percent in 2024, while the closure of the Brussels production plant will lead to a loss on the balance sheet of 1.2 billion euros, causing profit to plummet to 106 million, or more than 90 percent less than the previous profit. We are talking at the moment about estimates, which could materialize into worse but also better numbers in the future.
But the Group is already making some moves and intervening in the world of sports quite heavily. The first concerns Lamborghini's WEC program, with a prototype that is in danger of being sidelined after just one season because of disappointing results but also and especially because of the significant costs to be incurred in an excellent but very technically demanding world championship. Another maneuver that is taking shape concerns Audi's Formula 1 program.
According to reports from our colleagues at Motorsport.com, Audi is reportedly ready to sell part of the shares of the Sauber team to the sovereign wealth fund Qatar Investment Authority, i.e., the team taken over by the German manufacturer to then debut in F1 in 2026. This is a timing that gives a lot of pause for thought, seeing as we are talking about a project that has not yet fully entered the mainstream, but which already represents a huge cost item that must be curbed before it is too late.
But does this only impact the four-wheel world, or is there a risk that it will encroach on two wheels as well? The situation is very simple really, and it is a recurring scenario that when faced with a period of crisis, Audi is ready to divest itself of Ducati. We have heard this before, but again the reality is quite different because Ducati at this time represents an added value for the whole Group, bringing value and not diminishing it.
In fact, Ducati is setting new sales records every year and above all is bringing operating profits to the Group that are important. In 2023, sales exceeded 1 billion euros and profits reached 112 million euros. That is practically more than the entire Audi will bring in at the end of 2024, but based on completely different overall sales volumes. Ducati is a highly profitable company today, not a reality into which the Group has to pour resources, but on the contrary a reality that brings resources.
Even as far as sport is concerned, all Ducati Corse projects are completely financed by Ducati, there are no links with what happens in Audi, Lamborghini, Porsche and Volkswagen. In short, it is a strong company within a group that is facing a complicated moment, but it will not be touched by this crisis in the medium term.
