Asked on Porsche IPO, VW CEO says we have to 'consider' tapping markets

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Volkswagen boss Herbert Diess on Thursday dodged questions about a potential initial public offering of Porsche AG, saying only that any steps to tap capital markets would have to be carefully considered.

"As I said, we continue to review our set up. First priority is now to finance the battery ramp-up where we try to partly externally finance and we are working out the models," Diess told analysts after presenting first-half results.

"And all the other, let say, possibilities to go to market, which might be trucks, where we could dilute a little bit ... or any other things, we have to consider."

Volkswagen still owns 89.72% of Traton, the trucks unit it listed in 2019.

His remarks came a day after Volkswagen unveiled a bid to buy Europcar jointly with Attestor and Pon Holdings via vehicle called Green Mobility Holding. Volkswagen will hold two thirds of the bid vehicle, with Attestor owning 27% and Pon Holding 7%.

Volkswagen said that its stake in the vehicle will mean that it will contribute 1.688 billion euros ($2.01 billion) to the offer if it passes a 90% acceptance threshold.

($1 = 0.8418 euros)

(Reporting by Christoph Steitz; Editing by Douglas Busvine)