Volkswagen Group offered $12bn to sell Lamborghini

The Volkswagen Group has reportedly received a high offer of €7.5 billion ($A12bn) for Automobili Lamborghini by a Zurich-based investment consortium.

According to Autocar, the billion-dollar offer to buy Lamborghini was made by the Quantum Group that's led by Rea Stark, the co-founder of Piech Automotive that unveiled the Piech Mark Zero GT at the 2019 Geneva motor show.

As part of the deal, Quantum has joined forces with London-based Centricus Asset Management to raise the funds required.

Quantum's proposed acquisition of Lamborghini includes both the purchase of the car-maker's Sant'Agata HQ in Italy, plus its motorsport operations.

VW Group chairman Herbert Diess and Audi boss Markus Duesmann are both rumoured to be aware of the offer, says the Brit mag, with the top execs in possession of all the key elements of Quantum's proposal.

Those elements include transforming Lamborghini into a brand that would become a "spearhead for innovation by consistently implementing new clean drivetrain technologies".

Untangling Lamborghini from the mighty Volkswagen Group will prove a huge challenge.

The Lamborghini Huracan, Aventador and particularly the Urus all rely heavily on VW's huge parts bin, although the Quantum Group is reported to have requested the chance to strike a strategic partnership for the future with the German car-maker that includes a five-year supplier agreement.

As part of its proposed partnership with VW, Quantum said it hopes the German car giant would share its EV tech and help establish a new R&D hub in Germany to help develop battery technology that will power future Lamborghini models.

As well as investing heavily in zero-emissions powertrains, Quantum said it will develop software and autonomous driving tech and investigate synthetic fuels and hydrogen fuel-cells.

Helping a smooth transition from 23 years of VW ownership, Quantum said it would retain all existing Lamborghini management and guarantee no job losses for the next five years.

The consortium also said the German-based R&D hub could generate a further 850 jobs.

Despite plenty of rumours the famous Ferrari rival was on the market, an Audi spokesman speaking to Autocar has insisted "Lamborghini is not for sale".

Diess has himself in the past sparked rumours VW would ditch Lambo after publicly admitting the drive to replace its ageing line-up (Urus aside) was running well beyond the original agreed budget.

More bad new included the car-maker recording just 7430 sales in 2020, a decline from the record 8205 annual sales in 2019, although last year's figure does include a COVID-enforced 70-day shutdown.

Despite this, Lamborghini says profits actually increased to €1.61 billion ($A2.5bn).