Rumor mill: VW shopping Lamborghini and Bugatti? Phasing out or replacing the Phaeton?

Here's what we call a newsbrief - In the a short Dow Jones Newswire piece, Volkswagen denies a report in German newspaper the Leipziger Volkszeitung that it is shopping Lamborghini and Bugatti, and that it is discontinuing the brand's top-rung Phaeton luxury sedan.

This is the first we've heard of the rumors, and while Volkswagen has been conducting some aggressive restructuring over the past several months, it would appear that both of the supercar marques' model portfolios (present and near-future) are tied too closely to the mother ship to make such sell-offs viable. Word of the Phaeton's demise also comes within hours of a Freien Presse report indicating that VW has designs on replacing the luxury sedan in 2009.

[Sources: Dow Jones Newswire via Morningstar.com; AFX News Limited via Forbes; Volkswagen]