Porsche, Volkswagen: Merger news **VW Takes 49.9% Stake In Porsche (page 4)**
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Porsche, Volkswagen: Merger news **VW Takes 49.9% Stake In Porsche (page 4)**
Luxury sports car maker Porsche AG said Sunday it plans to acquire a stake of about 20 percent in Volkswagen AG, a move aimed at strengthening ties between the automakers and preventing a future hostile takeover of Volkswagen.
Porsche said Volkswagen had become “a significant supplier for about 30 percent of our sales volume,” as well as “an important partner in development.”
The two companies worked together to develop Porsche’s Cayenne sport utility vehicle and Volkswagen’s Touareg. They recently announced that they, along with Audi AG, were forming an alliance to develop hybrid engines.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9479897/ (full article)
Porsche said Volkswagen had become “a significant supplier for about 30 percent of our sales volume,” as well as “an important partner in development.”
The two companies worked together to develop Porsche’s Cayenne sport utility vehicle and Volkswagen’s Touareg. They recently announced that they, along with Audi AG, were forming an alliance to develop hybrid engines.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9479897/ (full article)
#4
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i think we would all agree that VW would seriously benifit from more porsche influence as long as they try to keep the prices lower then they are (tourag)
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Porsche stock drops on plan to take VW stake - - Reuters / September 26, 2005 - - Source: Automotive News
FRANKFURT -- Porsche shares fell as much as 11.7 percent on Monday on concern its plan to take a 20 percent stake in Volkswagen would wipe out cash that the world's most profitable carmaker might have given investors.
While the voting stake in Europe's biggest carmaker would cost some 3.3 billion euros ($4 billion), Porsche said it could still finance projects such as its new Panamera sports coupe.
VW shares initially rose and then slipped as Porsche's plan torpedoed talk of a hostile bid.
The deal also sparked grumbling that VW's drive to slash manufacturing costs could lose steam if Porsche's entry secured majority control for Porsche, VW itself and the German state of Lower Saxony in an all-German public-private alliance.
"The recent surge in VW is now explained, but this deal is depressing confirmation that the old ways of German capitalism die hard," Sanford Bernstein analyst Stephen Cheetham said.
VW stock had soared 17 percent last week on heavy volume, prompting talk that a strategic investor was building a stake.
Porsche, which says it has less than 5 percent of Volkswagen, gave no details on how it intended to boost this. A spokesman declined comment on whether investment bank Merrill Lynch was buying or had bought stock for Porsche.
Worried that a European court may overturn in 2007 Germany's so-called "VW law", which caps shareholders' voting rights at 20 percent, Porsche says it had to act to prevent any VW takeover that could disrupt stable business ties.
Volkswagen makes the chassis for Porsche's Cayenne offroader and is working with Porsche to develop hybrid engines. VW supplies 30 percent of the content in Porsche's sales volume.
GERMAN PERSPECTIVE
Lower Saxony, VW's home state, is the largest shareholder now with 18.2 percent of VW voting rights and reaffirmed on Sunday it was committed to holding its VW stake. Volkswagen holds a 13 percent voting stake in treasury shares.
VW has made clear it cannot sell its treasury shares unless this is linked to an acquisition. For instance it planned to sell a big stake to the Gulf emirate of Abu Dhabi last year to help finance the purchase of a 50 percent stake in fleet management business LeasePlan, but these talks fell through.
"The decisive thing for the development of VW shares in the next few days is whether and at what price Porsche can acquire the 13 percent of shares that VW holds itself," said Stephan Droxner, analyst at Landesbank Baden-Wuerttemberg.
No VW officials were immediately available for comment.
"The state government has been in contact with various automakers for a long time, because we have known for years of American carmakers' interest in getting into Volkswagen," Lower Saxony state Premier Christian Wulff told the Hannoversche Allgemeine Zeitung paper. "We tried to cooperate with the United Arab Emirates. Porsche offers a German perspective. We can generate synergies."
Turning to Porsche also draws on long-standing family ties.
Volkswagen Chairman Ferdinand Piech, whose family is a main Porsche shareholder, is the grandson of Porsche's founder, Ferdinand Porsche, the man who developed the legendary VW Beetle as a "people's car" for Adolf Hitler.
Deutsche Bank cut its rating on Porsche shares to "sell" on Monday, setting a price target of 550 euros per share.
JP Morgan suggested taking profits in both stocks.
But CSFB recommended buying into weakness in Porsche shares, noting the deal made long-term strategic sense by securing production of the Cayenne and perhaps using spare VW capacity at some stage to make the four-door Porsche Panamera.
While the voting stake in Europe's biggest carmaker would cost some 3.3 billion euros ($4 billion), Porsche said it could still finance projects such as its new Panamera sports coupe.
VW shares initially rose and then slipped as Porsche's plan torpedoed talk of a hostile bid.
The deal also sparked grumbling that VW's drive to slash manufacturing costs could lose steam if Porsche's entry secured majority control for Porsche, VW itself and the German state of Lower Saxony in an all-German public-private alliance.
"The recent surge in VW is now explained, but this deal is depressing confirmation that the old ways of German capitalism die hard," Sanford Bernstein analyst Stephen Cheetham said.
VW stock had soared 17 percent last week on heavy volume, prompting talk that a strategic investor was building a stake.
Porsche, which says it has less than 5 percent of Volkswagen, gave no details on how it intended to boost this. A spokesman declined comment on whether investment bank Merrill Lynch was buying or had bought stock for Porsche.
Worried that a European court may overturn in 2007 Germany's so-called "VW law", which caps shareholders' voting rights at 20 percent, Porsche says it had to act to prevent any VW takeover that could disrupt stable business ties.
Volkswagen makes the chassis for Porsche's Cayenne offroader and is working with Porsche to develop hybrid engines. VW supplies 30 percent of the content in Porsche's sales volume.
GERMAN PERSPECTIVE
Lower Saxony, VW's home state, is the largest shareholder now with 18.2 percent of VW voting rights and reaffirmed on Sunday it was committed to holding its VW stake. Volkswagen holds a 13 percent voting stake in treasury shares.
VW has made clear it cannot sell its treasury shares unless this is linked to an acquisition. For instance it planned to sell a big stake to the Gulf emirate of Abu Dhabi last year to help finance the purchase of a 50 percent stake in fleet management business LeasePlan, but these talks fell through.
"The decisive thing for the development of VW shares in the next few days is whether and at what price Porsche can acquire the 13 percent of shares that VW holds itself," said Stephan Droxner, analyst at Landesbank Baden-Wuerttemberg.
No VW officials were immediately available for comment.
"The state government has been in contact with various automakers for a long time, because we have known for years of American carmakers' interest in getting into Volkswagen," Lower Saxony state Premier Christian Wulff told the Hannoversche Allgemeine Zeitung paper. "We tried to cooperate with the United Arab Emirates. Porsche offers a German perspective. We can generate synergies."
Turning to Porsche also draws on long-standing family ties.
Volkswagen Chairman Ferdinand Piech, whose family is a main Porsche shareholder, is the grandson of Porsche's founder, Ferdinand Porsche, the man who developed the legendary VW Beetle as a "people's car" for Adolf Hitler.
Deutsche Bank cut its rating on Porsche shares to "sell" on Monday, setting a price target of 550 euros per share.
JP Morgan suggested taking profits in both stocks.
But CSFB recommended buying into weakness in Porsche shares, noting the deal made long-term strategic sense by securing production of the Cayenne and perhaps using spare VW capacity at some stage to make the four-door Porsche Panamera.
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Well, here is the reason then:
Worried that a European court may overturn in 2007 Germany's so-called "VW law", which caps shareholders' voting rights at 20 percent, Porsche says it had to act to prevent any VW takeover that could disrupt stable business ties.
Volkswagen makes the chassis for Porsche's Cayenne offroader and is working with Porsche to develop hybrid engines. VW supplies 30 percent of the content in Porsche's sales volume.
Volkswagen makes the chassis for Porsche's Cayenne offroader and is working with Porsche to develop hybrid engines. VW supplies 30 percent of the content in Porsche's sales volume.
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#9
Suzuka Master
Cool Reception for Porsche-VW Link
September 27, 2005
Cool Reception for Porsche-VW Link
By MARK LANDLER
FRANKFURT, Sept. 26 - The chief executive of Porsche, Wendelin Wiedeking, said two weeks ago at the Frankfurt Motor Show that his company had two options for growth: sell more sports cars, which would mean competing on price, or try to break into the broader luxury market, building on the success of its Cayenne sport utility vehicle.
On Sunday, Porsche added a third option: buy into Europe's largest mass-market carmaker, Volkswagen.
Porsche's surprise announcement that it planned to amass 20 percent of Volkswagen is reverberating through the German auto industry, challenging assumptions about Porsche and reviving complaints about the clubby nature of corporate Germany.
On Monday, shares of Porsche plunged more than 10 percent, their steepest drop in two and a half years. Several analysts lowered their ratings on the stock and warned that marrying the maker of the 911 Turbo with the maker of the Beetle would inevitably tarnish Porsche.
"There's hardly any business rationale for this deal," said Arndt Ellinghorst, an analyst at Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein in Frankfurt. "It really dilutes the image of Porsche, and raises questions about whether the management has control over the capital of the company."
Porsche said it was making the investment to head off a potential hostile takeover of Volkswagen, securing its long-term ties to an important partner. For now, Volkswagen is shielded from takeovers by a German law, but that statute is being challenged in a European court.
The investment could cost upward of 3 billion euros ($3.6 billion), based on the market value of Volkswagen's stock, which barely moved on Monday. Porsche insists it can finance the deal internally and still pay for other projects, like a sports coupe, the Panamera, which it plans to introduce in 2009.
Porsche has the fattest profit margins in the auto industry, so few analysts doubt it has the financial muscle. They worry, though, that Volkswagen, which is struggling on several fronts, could end up as a costly distraction for Porsche's executives. Porsche attributes much of its success in the last decade to keeping a focus on its high-performance cars.
"Porsche is the exception that proves the rule: no other car company of its size has had a chance on its own," said Garel Rhys, director of the Center for Automotive Industry Research at Cardiff University in Wales. "The question is, Will Porsche continue to serve as an R.& D. laboratory for the auto industry or will it disappear into Volkswagen?"
Porsche is not the first German luxury carmaker to buy into a mass-market rival. The precedents are not encouraging.
Daimler-Benz merged with the Chrysler Corporation in 1998 and soon found itself struggling with financial problems at the American company. Daimler's executives were so distracted, analysts say, that they neglected the company's flagship Mercedes division, which suffered a precipitous decline in quality standards and profit, even as Chrysler bounced back.
In 1994, BMW bought Rover of Britain, seeking to break out of its luxury niche. It spent billions of dollars and lavished management attention on the money-losing company before bailing out six years later.
"BMW is a bigger company than Porsche, and Rover is a smaller company than Volkswagen," Mr. Rhys said, "and even then it diverted too many strategic resources from BMW."
Porsche already works closely with Volkswagen; the Cayenne is partly built at a Volkswagen plant in Slovakia, and the two have agreed to the joint development of hybrid gasoline-electric engines.
Moreover, Porsche and Volkswagen share common parentage. Ferdinand Porsche, the Austrian engineer who designed the Beetle to fulfill Hitler's request for a people's car, also laid the groundwork for a sports car. His son Ferdinand, known as Ferry, later started Porsche.
Ferdinand Piëch, a grandson of the elder Mr. Porsche, is a former chief executive and current board chairman of Volkswagen, as well as a board member of Porsche. The Porsche and Piëch families own half the shares of Porsche, and all the voting rights.
"It's a very wealthy clan, and this was a long-planned coup for them to take over part of Volkswagen," said Ferdinand Dudenhöffer, director of the Center for Automotive Research in Gelsenkirchen.
Porsche has never catered much to the market, analysts say. It refuses to publish financial reports, and it shelved plans to list its shares in New York because it could not abide the disclosure requirements.
This latest deal, analysts said, is no different. "For most Porsche shareholders, it's a slap in the face," Mr. Ellinghorst said.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/27/bu...27porsche.html
Cool Reception for Porsche-VW Link
By MARK LANDLER
FRANKFURT, Sept. 26 - The chief executive of Porsche, Wendelin Wiedeking, said two weeks ago at the Frankfurt Motor Show that his company had two options for growth: sell more sports cars, which would mean competing on price, or try to break into the broader luxury market, building on the success of its Cayenne sport utility vehicle.
On Sunday, Porsche added a third option: buy into Europe's largest mass-market carmaker, Volkswagen.
Porsche's surprise announcement that it planned to amass 20 percent of Volkswagen is reverberating through the German auto industry, challenging assumptions about Porsche and reviving complaints about the clubby nature of corporate Germany.
On Monday, shares of Porsche plunged more than 10 percent, their steepest drop in two and a half years. Several analysts lowered their ratings on the stock and warned that marrying the maker of the 911 Turbo with the maker of the Beetle would inevitably tarnish Porsche.
"There's hardly any business rationale for this deal," said Arndt Ellinghorst, an analyst at Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein in Frankfurt. "It really dilutes the image of Porsche, and raises questions about whether the management has control over the capital of the company."
Porsche said it was making the investment to head off a potential hostile takeover of Volkswagen, securing its long-term ties to an important partner. For now, Volkswagen is shielded from takeovers by a German law, but that statute is being challenged in a European court.
The investment could cost upward of 3 billion euros ($3.6 billion), based on the market value of Volkswagen's stock, which barely moved on Monday. Porsche insists it can finance the deal internally and still pay for other projects, like a sports coupe, the Panamera, which it plans to introduce in 2009.
Porsche has the fattest profit margins in the auto industry, so few analysts doubt it has the financial muscle. They worry, though, that Volkswagen, which is struggling on several fronts, could end up as a costly distraction for Porsche's executives. Porsche attributes much of its success in the last decade to keeping a focus on its high-performance cars.
"Porsche is the exception that proves the rule: no other car company of its size has had a chance on its own," said Garel Rhys, director of the Center for Automotive Industry Research at Cardiff University in Wales. "The question is, Will Porsche continue to serve as an R.& D. laboratory for the auto industry or will it disappear into Volkswagen?"
Porsche is not the first German luxury carmaker to buy into a mass-market rival. The precedents are not encouraging.
Daimler-Benz merged with the Chrysler Corporation in 1998 and soon found itself struggling with financial problems at the American company. Daimler's executives were so distracted, analysts say, that they neglected the company's flagship Mercedes division, which suffered a precipitous decline in quality standards and profit, even as Chrysler bounced back.
In 1994, BMW bought Rover of Britain, seeking to break out of its luxury niche. It spent billions of dollars and lavished management attention on the money-losing company before bailing out six years later.
"BMW is a bigger company than Porsche, and Rover is a smaller company than Volkswagen," Mr. Rhys said, "and even then it diverted too many strategic resources from BMW."
Porsche already works closely with Volkswagen; the Cayenne is partly built at a Volkswagen plant in Slovakia, and the two have agreed to the joint development of hybrid gasoline-electric engines.
Moreover, Porsche and Volkswagen share common parentage. Ferdinand Porsche, the Austrian engineer who designed the Beetle to fulfill Hitler's request for a people's car, also laid the groundwork for a sports car. His son Ferdinand, known as Ferry, later started Porsche.
Ferdinand Piëch, a grandson of the elder Mr. Porsche, is a former chief executive and current board chairman of Volkswagen, as well as a board member of Porsche. The Porsche and Piëch families own half the shares of Porsche, and all the voting rights.
"It's a very wealthy clan, and this was a long-planned coup for them to take over part of Volkswagen," said Ferdinand Dudenhöffer, director of the Center for Automotive Research in Gelsenkirchen.
Porsche has never catered much to the market, analysts say. It refuses to publish financial reports, and it shelved plans to list its shares in New York because it could not abide the disclosure requirements.
This latest deal, analysts said, is no different. "For most Porsche shareholders, it's a slap in the face," Mr. Ellinghorst said.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/27/bu...27porsche.html
#10
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Cool Stuff. I've always wondered about the relationship of VW and Porsche (and Audi). I'm an aircooled engine enthusiast, so I have read some books about the beginings of vw (small wonder, etc), but it's never really been clear to me exactly what the relationship between the 2 companies is.
Since VW and Porsche had the same chief designer in Ferdinand Porsche at the companies beginnings, VW and Porsche will forever be linked... The investment just strengthens the union of the 2 companies...
Since VW and Porsche had the same chief designer in Ferdinand Porsche at the companies beginnings, VW and Porsche will forever be linked... The investment just strengthens the union of the 2 companies...
#11
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Porsche increases its stake in VW...
From leftlanenews.com...
German antitrust authorities have given approval to Porsche's plan to increase its stake in Volkswagen to 25.1 percent. That will give the sports car maker a controlling minority share in VW. The plan was first announced late last month. Porsche began expanding its stake in Volkswagen late last year in an effort to prevent hostile takeovers from other factions. VW is a critical supplier to Porsche, and their partnership is expected to widen when production begins of the 2009 Panamera sedan. Government official Ulf Boege said there were no significant antitrust concerns about the deal, as there is no risk of Porsche and Volkswagen dominating the entire German car industry. Porsche currently holds a 21.2 percent stake in Volkswagen.
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The latest MT mag issue claims that Posrche's intend about VW lately is to separate Audi from the VW group so that Porshce buys Audi! Also Porsche's CEO, is a regular visitor to VW's board lately and has become a lot more vocal about VW's mistakes in strategy. For example, he noted the failure of Bugatti to make money with the Veyron (apparently they will barely be able to sell the 300 vehicles they put as target) and Porsche's boss' idea is to transition Bugatti into a very limited butique automaker which would produce maybe 20 or 30 handbuilt vehicles a year!
#16
Fahrvergnügen'd
Originally Posted by gavriil
The latest MT mag issue claims that Posrche's intend about VW lately is to separate Audi from the VW group so that Porshce buys Audi! Also Porsche's CEO, is a regular visitor to VW's board lately and has become a lot more vocal about VW's mistakes in strategy. For example, he noted the failure of Bugatti to make money with the Veyron (apparently they will barely be able to sell the 300 vehicles they put as target) and Porsche's boss' idea is to transition Bugatti into a very limited butique automaker which would produce maybe 20 or 30 handbuilt vehicles a year!
Porsche/Audi makes sense but I don't think Porsche can do what it thinks it can without VWs volume.
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Could also be a strategic move to keep Porsche > Audi as Audi continues its push towards more sport inspired vehicles and Porsche continues to move towards luxury inspired vehicles.
#18
Fahrvergnügen'd
What I don't understand is what is going on with VW's leadership? Porsche has just rolled in and said, "Listen, bitches, this is what we're going to do" and VW is just sitting around saying, "okay."
#19
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Full story here: http://www.reuters.com/article/busin...37867320070326
VW's share price has risen about 1/3 over the past year or so on the speculation that Porsche would be executing it's option...
Porsche boosts VW stake to 30.9 pct via option
FRANKFURT (Reuters) - German sports car maker Porsche (PSHG_p.DE: Quote, Profile, Research) has exercised an option to take an extra 3.6 percent voting stake in Volkswagen (VOWG.DE: Quote, Profile, Research), Porsche said on Monday, taking its holding to 30.9 percent as of Wednesday.
FRANKFURT (Reuters) - German sports car maker Porsche (PSHG_p.DE: Quote, Profile, Research) has exercised an option to take an extra 3.6 percent voting stake in Volkswagen (VOWG.DE: Quote, Profile, Research), Porsche said on Monday, taking its holding to 30.9 percent as of Wednesday.
#21
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Porsche to buy control of VW
Full story: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7275703.stm
Full story: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7275703.stm
Porsche has said it will take a controlling stake in Volkswagen, in a deal that is potentially worth almost 10bn euros ($15.2bn, £7.7bn).
The maker of the luxury 911 sports car already holds 31% of VW shares and on Monday its supervisory board agreed to raise the stake to above 50%.
In a separate deal, Volkswagen said it will buy a controlling stake in Swedish truck maker Scania for $4.4bn.
The two deals will create a huge auto business under Porsche's control.
The maker of the luxury 911 sports car already holds 31% of VW shares and on Monday its supervisory board agreed to raise the stake to above 50%.
In a separate deal, Volkswagen said it will buy a controlling stake in Swedish truck maker Scania for $4.4bn.
The two deals will create a huge auto business under Porsche's control.
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I dont understand where Porsche with a the 911, the Cayman, the Boxster and the Cayenne (the GT is not made any more), a car company with four models can raise all this equity to buy a controlling stake in the most popular European automaker.
#23
Engineer
Originally Posted by gavriil
I dont understand where Porsche with a the 911, the Cayman, the Boxster and the Cayenne (the GT is not made any more), a car company with four models can raise all this equity to buy a controlling stake in the most popular European automaker.
have you looked at the sticker price of any of those cars in relation to their direct competition?
#26
Engineer
can't blame them though... they have a product which is consistently hot and people are willing to pay the big bucks to get one... they are just making the most of it...
#27
Senior Moderator
Originally Posted by mrsteve
And their profit margin. It's huge.
https://acurazine.com/forums/showthr...porsche+profit
And they make a ton of money doing consultant work for other companies...
#29
Senior Moderator
Can we expect the next Audi R11 to be badged as a Porsche?
#30
Senior Moderator
Porsche ups ownership in VW to 51%
http://www.autoblog.com/2008/03/03/p...p-in-vw-to-51/
dun dun dun!!!!!
dun dun dun!!!!!
The supervisory board of Volkswagen Group just gave approval for Porsche AG to take a majority stake in the people's automaker. Porsche currently owns 31% of Volkswagen, and this move will ultimately increase that share to 51%. The increase in ownership is estimated to cost Porsche upwards of $20 billion, although the financial deets have not yet been released. Porsche is saying that owning a majority stake in VW will not result in the two companies combining, creating a German mega-automaker of biblical proportions. Don't expect things to change overnight for either company, as transactions like these generally take months to complete, if not years.
This move wasn't unexpected, either. Porsche has slowly been increasing its interest in VW over the past several years as we reported in June 2006, April 2007 and again in June 2007. Recent announcements that Porsche may use Volkswagen diesel powerplants in its Cayenne SUV now seem even more likely, and exchanges of technology, components and production capacity between the two are likely to increase.
This move wasn't unexpected, either. Porsche has slowly been increasing its interest in VW over the past several years as we reported in June 2006, April 2007 and again in June 2007. Recent announcements that Porsche may use Volkswagen diesel powerplants in its Cayenne SUV now seem even more likely, and exchanges of technology, components and production capacity between the two are likely to increase.
#33
Senior Moderator
Originally Posted by F-C
Can we expect the next Audi R11 to be badged as a Porsche?
Originally Posted by majesty
I don't understand the move.
Porsche and VW have had always had a close relationship, and have colaborated on several vehicles. The Porsche 914 from the 70's had a VW engine, and the Cayenne and Touareg are built off the same platform...
I can only see this being a good thing for the VW brand
#35
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Originally Posted by GreenMonster
I can only see this being a good thing for the VW brand
I've always liked VW's for their looks, especially the GTI, but the reliability issues always detered me.
Some say that Audi is a glorified VW, but I don't fully agree with that.
I just hope that this takeover can help boost VW's brand quality and give it the TLC that it has needed for a long time.
#36
Originally Posted by stangg172004
^ every little thing is an extra cost on a porche, its quite ridiculous..
On one hand I agree that options are rediculously priced, however they produce the least expensive cars that allow incredible freedom in speccing your car. Where else can you buy a car under 100K that allows paint and leather to sample, deviated stitching in an ala cart manner along with a huge array of carbon, leather and wood options. Porsche is by far the least expensive manufacturer that allows you to easily buy a 1 of 1 and though the Cayman and Boxster crowd doesn't heavily partake in these Exclusiv options but the 911 Turbo buyers in particular load 20-30K in goodies on. This may seem stupid but look at people that spend near that level of money on cars with stickers in the $30s in the aftermarket.
#37
The sizzle in the Steak
Porsche now controls VW; wants to buy Audi
In the latest chapter of the Porsche-Volkswagen takeover saga, Porsche announced earlier today that it now owns 35.14 percent of Volkswagen Group, which means that under German law, VW has become a subsidiary of Porsche Automobil Holding. Porsche also claims that, because of its share in VW, it is obliged to make an offer for ownership of Volkswagen-owned Audi.
Porsche’s CEO, Wendelin Wiedeking, says that the automaker intends to increase its stake in VW from just over 35 percent to 50 percent and that Audi would remain under Volkswagen in the new family tree.
Automotive News Europereports that Porsche will offer to buy the approximately 370,000 publicly available shares in Audi (worth about 170 million euros). The other 99.14 percent of Audi is owned by Volkswagen, which says it will not accept Porsche’s offer to buy. Still, Porsche says it is obligated to buy the shares from Volkswagen.
Wiedeking says he had hoped for a quick solution of this increasingly dramatic situation, but it appears that Volkswagen’s works council won’t allow that. Volkswagen says that its brand is underrepresented in Porsche’s supervisory board.
Porsche’s CEO, Wendelin Wiedeking, says that the automaker intends to increase its stake in VW from just over 35 percent to 50 percent and that Audi would remain under Volkswagen in the new family tree.
Automotive News Europereports that Porsche will offer to buy the approximately 370,000 publicly available shares in Audi (worth about 170 million euros). The other 99.14 percent of Audi is owned by Volkswagen, which says it will not accept Porsche’s offer to buy. Still, Porsche says it is obligated to buy the shares from Volkswagen.
Wiedeking says he had hoped for a quick solution of this increasingly dramatic situation, but it appears that Volkswagen’s works council won’t allow that. Volkswagen says that its brand is underrepresented in Porsche’s supervisory board.
#40
The sizzle in the Steak