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VW has received several tentative bids for Ducati

Italy's Benetton family is vying with motorbike firms and buyout funds for control of Italian motorcycle brand Ducati, which is being sold by Germany's Volkswagen, sources involved in the process told Reuters. Volkswagen, whose Audi division controls Ducati, has received several tentative bids with the Benetton family's investment vehicle Edizione Holding valuing the Monster motorbike maker at $1.2 billion, one of the sources said. As well as Edizione Holding, U.S. buyout fund Bain Capital, which owns a stake in Ski-Doo snowmobiles maker BRB, and two Indian motorbike firms, Eicher Motors and Bajaj Auto, have also bid for Ducati, the sources said. Indian carmaker Eicher controls Royal Enfield, a motorcycle brand established in 1893 which ranks as one of the oldest. Strategic bidders also include U.S. automotive firm Polaris Industries, which earlier this year said it would wind down its struggling Victory Motorcycle brand. A shortlist of bidders for a second stage of the auction could be selected as soon as Saturday, two of the sources said. Volkswagen adviser Evercore has a long list of bidders including private equity funds such as Ducati's previous owner Investindustrial, CVC Capital Partners, Advent and PAI, all hoping to outbid industry players, the sources said. If it gets to the second round, Edizione Holding could seek to form a consortium with a financial investor, two of the sources said, in a bid to secure control of Ducati, whose racers have won the Superbike world championship 14 times, with Carl Fogarty and Troy Bayliss its most successful riders. Audi, Edizione Holding, Investindustrial, Advent and PAI declined to comment, while the other interested groups were not immediately available for comment. PRICING CHALLENGES For some buyout funds, Ducati's valuation of up to $1.4 billion – which sources said is based on a multiple of more than 10 times its core earnings of roughly 100 million euros – is a tall order as they lack the synergies that some motorbike makers could achieve. But Investindustrial founder Andrea Bonomi, who sold Ducati to Audi for about 860 million euros in 2012, is serious about a comeback, one of the sources said. China's Loncin Motor was among a group of industry players that initially showed interest in Ducati, alongside Harley-Davidson. The latter has, however, decided against making a bid due to Ducati's price tag, while it could not be established if Loncin Motor had carried on bidding.

Audi S1 rally car races its RC counterpart

Veteran racer Mattias Ekstrom campaigns the meanest looking Audi S1 on the block in the FIA World Rallycross Championship. With a 2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder pumping out a claimed 600 horsepower and all-wheel drive, this little hatch can reportedly hit 60 miles per hour in a wickedly quick 1.9 seconds. While those specs are mighty impressive, they don't really matter too much for Ekstrom's latest race in the S1 against a pint-sized doppelganger in the form of an RC replica of the rallycross machine around a warehouse. Despite, the massive gulf in size and power, the two Audis appear fairly evenly matched. The RC version can't quite match the real one in outright speed but can go under obstacles that Ekstrom's S1 is forced to drive around. Check out the clip above to see which S1 makes it to the finish first. Related Gallery EKS Audi S1 Supercar News Source: Audi Deutschland via YouTubeImage Credit: Related images copyright EKS Motorsports Toys/Games Audi Hatchback Racing Vehicles Videos rc car audi s1

With increased range, Audi R8 E-Tron revving up for production. Maybe

As Tesla Motors proved mightily in 2013, an expensive EV with a long range can sell quite nicely, thank you very much. Perhaps Audi was taking notes, since its all-electric R8 E-Tron's on-again/off-again odyssey appears to be on again, according to UK's Autocar, citing Audi's Urlich Hackenburg. The model is near the approval stage for production, and the key to the green-light is the fact that its single-charge range has been almost doubled to 250 miles. The R8 E-Tron gained kudos in these parts last June by turning in a rather brisk 8:09 time around Germany's Nurburgring track, a record for a production electric vehicle (check out the really quiet video here). Still, plans for the 376-horsepower model, which has two electric motors and was first shown off at the Frankfurt Auto Show in 2009, had been put on the proverbial blocks largely because of a relatively short single-charge range of about 150 miles. Then word came out last spring that Audi would produce maybe 10 units before reports from Australia's Drive late last year indicated that plans for potentially broader production were being resuscitated.