I don’t believe that a third party team run by VW Motorsport would be on VW’s board members minds when they’ve decided to pull out. It seems more a fallback solution, most likely put toghether by top VW M staff and some sensible VW managers in order to resolve VW M immediate future.
VW M personnel cost could be the only expense for VW on this possible WRC venture, with Qatar and Red Bull paying testing and running costs. VW could also save some money on their driver’s contract deals, if they manage to keep one of them on this new team.
At the end VW would still be in WRC, for a fraction of what they’ve been spending and without the need to get their name officially involved, saving them from political or labor protests. It really seems the perfect fallback solution!