update 10-25-08

"FRANKFURT -- Porsche Automobil Holding SE said Friday the rift between its owners, the Piëch and Porsche families, has been resolved, and both families now fully support Porsche Chief Executive Wendelin Wiedeking's plan to take over Volkswagen AG."

update 10-22-07

new article 9-1-2007

Porsche to buy VW, 3-24-07

I read that they were increasing their stake to 31% ownership.
They are already the largest shareholder. By German law, they must make a takeover offer, which they will, but they are bidding the legal minimum, 20-some dollars a share lower than the market value, so Porsche doesn't think many shareholders will dump their shares at that price.

Wow!! If memory serves 40 yrs ago it was the other way around. How the hell did this happen?

Boxster and Cayenne..

lol

That & the GTI loosing out in the tuner market to the Civic, which lost out to the Eclipse, which lost out to the WRX, which might be loosing out to the Evo... etc...

~29% if i'm not mistaken. i recall that was the maximum amount they could get.

either way, not a bad thing for VW, i think ...
Andy

You DON'T remember correctly. VW has NEVER had a financial interest in Porsche. Ever. The Cap'n

?

In the AutoWeek I just rec'd a day or two ago, Porsche Motorsports had a 'pull-out' section. In it, it says the following:

"despite being the world's smallest independent automobile company, Porsche builds more race cars than any other manufacturer".

and now, "the world's smallest independent automobile company" is the largest shareholder in Volkswagen.... "Europe's biggest car maker".

THAT is pretty cool.

Not really, but about 15 years ago, it looked as if "someone" was gonna snap up Porsche. And VW was one of the more likely candidates.

A real turnaround since then--the 993, the Boxster, and the 996 have helped a lot. Even the (ugh!) Cayenne, too...

--DD

i think it would be great for both, and potentially turn the tuner market in vw's favor.

I'll be surprised if Porsche does anything but provide some technical assistance to VW. My bet is that Porsche is in this for the money, not to take over unless necessary to protect the investment. Now, Porsche doesn't have all thier eggs in one basket.

And, I seriously doubt that the current Porsche execs are equipped to run something the size of VW. I'm betting the investment is somewhere for Porsche to put its deep cash pockets.

We'll see......

Does this mean we're legit now?

Interesting time for a *bump*....

2 weeks ago, I received my copies of:
- European Car
- Excellence and
- AutoWeek


all 3 mags had something about Porsche "taking a controlling interest in VW".

the article in Excellence is on the 1st page After the Index.
the article talks about how well Porsche fared in recent Surveys of New Car Owners, while VW was quite a bit down on the list. It went on to say that the "sports car manufacturer will have some work to do when it takes control of the VW group".

OK - is said SOMETHING like that, ^^THAT ^^ is Not a direct quote.

Two words ... Ferdinand Piech

No it means there will be another ugly mutt bastard child born.

They have to put a stop to the Audi R8.

That's what this is about.

Hell no, I love the R8!

I would choose it over a 911 turbo any day! but over a carrera gt? (given no budget) no...

Bastages can't leave well alone can they? Now I have to change all my emblems to Porsche-Vw rather than Vw-Porsche! What kind of distasteful ungodly sacraligious perversion is this world falling into?

check the update on the first post...

This is a mixed blessing. While I think it is good that these two companies are together again, it clearly shows that the EU has considerable power over what goes on in the member states. Similar to what our Supreme court has been doing over the last few decades, the EU court is declaring local laws (the people's voice) null and void. In the long run, I think you will see more foreign control of what were once "German" companies, and the same goes for other member states, the article gives several examples.

So, does this mean then that after 30+ years our cars are "real Porsches"?

Crikey! It was bad enough when they nullified the Reinheitsgebot (German Beer Purity Law). Is nothing sacred?

I saw at least one analyst opine that Porsche might need the VW sales figures to meet the "green" requirements that the EU is threatening.

EU seems to be the perfect example of The Law of Unintended Consequences. Altho anti-EU crowd said this is what would happen to member nations.

..THAT's Funny, oh wait, You were kidding, right?


I'm not sure these Porsche owners agree with your Opinion,
http://www.6speedonline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=102419


It sounds like part of the reason Porsche is considering taking 'controlling interest' in VW, is that a lot of the VW & Audi cars will satisfy the percentage of "Green vehicles" that is/will be required by auto manufacturers.

Geez Chuck! We clean you up, send you to Georgetown law and you have to ask this? Of course not! We will never be "real"... Unless would you consider being a lead attorney in a class action suing Porsche and VW for diminution of value related to the bastard factor???

"Together 'AGAIN' "? They've NEVER been together. Never. The Cap'n

Porsche has to stop Audi from making a Porsche killer somehow!

http://www.wheels24.co.za/Wheels24/News/Fu...2104260,00.html

[quote name='Scott Carlberg' date='Oct 23 2007, 12:01 PM' post='959963']

It sounds like part of the reason Porsche is considering taking 'controlling interest' in VW, is that a lot of the VW & Audi cars will satisfy the percentage of "Green vehicles" that is/will be required by auto manufacturers.
[/quote

A couple months ago there was a article that was musing about the future of sports cars because of the green laws. It stated that while the big 3 could get credit for there efficent cars, small manufactures such as Porsche (and others)might be forced out of business because they didn't make any "green" cars. By buying VW, Porsche is insuring the Brand will live on.

I do business law, real estate and estate planning. Such a case would be a bit outside of my practice areas. That being said, if it was in the best interests of my 914 brethern to pursue such a noble end . . .

All joking aside, I'd love the 914 whether or not it had any affiliation with Porsche; a great car is a great car no matter who made it or what powers it. Now, if Porsche can just figure out how to slow down that Audi R10 once they take over.

I think FP long ago had his day in the sun, and turned it into the dark side of the moon. Had some great ideas, but turned them into money pits for VW (W12 Passat?) (Semi's?). Seemed to go over the edge & is pretty much a babbling board member (Ithink) these days. Hardly capable of leading a worls market manufacturer.

The one thing that scares me about Porsche is that it's taken a GM approach (or something similar) to it's business. The finance guys run the show. The have no names - they're only suits, but they have control because they've done such a great job at making Porsches fat & wealthy. Don't get me wrong, because I am a finance guy, but I believe it will be a downfall if they continue to rule. I would bet that the good Doktor would have run them all out if he were alive.

Think about it - other than the Chairman and couple of selected sidekicks, who's really running Porsche. Who's really running VW, and why the hell do they need another loss-leader like Lambo?

I don't like the looks of this, because VW already sucks. Haven't made a good quality car in years (I've had 7 of them & never again). Early on, I though that maybe the influence of Porsche engineers would cure VW's probelms, but they've only gotten worse.

Worried about the whole thing, because I don't think Porsche can handle worldwide engineering & production requirements associated with a high volume manufacturer like VW. Afraid they'll just nake it worse. IMHO

IIRC, an article in the Pano a while back stated that Porsche had mucho $$$$'s invested in joint venture vehicles with VW (Cayenne and Panamera) and they were concerned that VW was ripe for a hostile takeover bid by someone else. Porsche is merely covering its ass....ets.

Recent history doesn't account for past history.

Porsche asked, begged, and pleaded that Audi/Vw NOT bring to market a car that would compete with the 911. They may have even been worried from past experiences with the 914/6s.

And what did audi do??? Release a car available for less than a 911 built on the lamborgini chassis.

Yes. It'll still handle like a lambo-pig. But customers don't care if it looks fast and has a high top speed. The R8 offers both.

The "Green vehicles" bs is second priority. What do you think will happen if Porsche gets 51 percent of VW/Audi?

Goodbye R8. Goodbye GTI. Goodbye S8. Maybe even goodbye Toureg.

Hello Panamera, Caymen, 911, and Cayenne.

Nobody beats Porsche. Not nobody not nohow. That's the mentality. And I like it.

Alphie,

were you there to see them beg & plead? If so, did they do it in German or English?

When I read this I had a vision of the cast of Monty Python dressed in leiderhosen wearing Alpine hats with a long green feather in it, on their knees, hands clasp together begging in German to the guy from the VW commercials wearing a white lab coat.

You think the green vehicles is second priority......75% of porsches are sold in the USA via Porsche NA. If you can't sell them because of regulations it dosen't matter what you build or who you can beat. Being able to sell what you build is the first priority of any company. And if they buy the rest of VW stock and don't follow thru with the green machines, just watch the price of VW stock fall along with sales. But that would be a good thing for Nissan, Honda & Toyota

^^ Thanks Bruce. ^^

"These two companies are together again"? Might want to go back to my previous post, early in the thread. Wait, I'll save you the effort. Here's what I said:

"Together 'AGAIN' "? They've NEVER been together. Never. The Cap'n

...Cap'n...I think that these guys confuse American marketing with European corporations....in the late sixties and early seventies, Americans marketed VW + Audi + Porsches in their distributorships, (I don't have to tell you that).
...and the fact that VW built our 914s, and that Porsche purchased those bodies and updated all of the running gear and suspensions to create the 914/6. In Europe the 914/4 was a VW and the 914/6 was a VW with a Porsche engine.
The Europeans saw the 914 as a VoPo no matter what.
State side however, we saw the 914/4 as a Porsche with a VW engine and a 914/6 a real Porsche.
Myself, I saw Porsche attempting to combine the suggested lines of more than one historical automobile, the tried and tested mid-ship layout, the interior layout of the 904 and combinations of queues from the Abarth. Everyone became stuck on the VW / Porsche thing, totally missing that the birth of Porsche came from his efforts on the VW and the VW components used to give rise to the earliest Porsches. (So what?) I have this argument with all 550/356 Carrera guys (with their noses in the air) all the time.
I enjoy the fact that like the 904, 906, 908, 909 hillclimb car, the 914's ability to accept multiple engine formats and its' inherent nimble characteristics branch away from the norm, and all of the skeptics don't get it and don't remember that Porsche drove the design queues not VW...We my friends have a unique car, not a bastard, but a developed format with true racing legacy, not high volume crap that everyone else drives.

Wasn't this the reverse situation about 20+ years ago? Wasn't Porsche about to be gobbled up by someone/anyone - most likely VW?

Love the look of the R8 . In fact while kicking the tires at a local P /A store.. I looked at a new White one.... If I had to do it again.... I would have order an R8 instead of my TT. Would have saved a boat load of $ and have some thing different looking.

"About to be gobbled up"? Most/all of Porsche's voting stock has historically been in the hands of the family. To "gobble it up", you'd have to get them to sell it. It's not like GM or Chrysler, where a lot the voting stock is in the hands of people/companies that have little interest in the product or the name, only in the dividends.

The Cap'n