2010 Ferrari 458 Italia

2010 Ferrari 458 Italia

Volkswagen is intent on becoming the world’s biggest automaker, and of late, it's been looking more and more like a realistic goal. In the past year alone we’ve seen Volkswagen successfully acquire--or at least lay the groundwork to--Porsche, Italdesign-Giugiaro and a sizeable chunk of Suzuki, and now there’s word that legendary sports car brand Ferrari may be next in line to join the ever-expanding Volkswagen Group umbrella.

The German auto giant is sitting on a cash pile of roughly $27 billion, which could easily cover the estimated value of Ferrari, which currently stands at between $3.17 billion and $4.83 billion. The issue depends more on how much capacity Volkswagen has to acquire yet another high-end sports car brand. You may recall that the Volkswagen Group already includes Lamborghini, Porsche and Bugatti. 

Nevertheless, Germany’s Manager Magazin is reporting that Ferrari is being eyed by Volkswagen Chairman Ferdinand Piech. The German executive has previously stated that he would like Volkswagen to buy Fiat's Alfa Romeo marque but according to the report the real object of Piech’s desire is Ferrari.

We do know Fiat is keen to raise funds to help it increase its stake in Chrysler and fund new product development but its CEO, Sergio Marchionne, has previously denied that Ferrari is up for sale. However, there are rumors that Fiat may sell shares in Ferrari in an initial public offering while retaining a majority stake. 

The sad part is, this all sounds a bit familiar. Could Volkswagen successfully manage all these brands or could we be seeing the formation of the next General Motors?

[Manager Magazin via Automotive News]