Porsche Under The Umbrella Of Volkswagen
The two German motor giants, Porsche and Volkswagen, have decided to join together in a merger. The union of the two iconic German companies is planned to be completed in 2011, but the exact date is not known yet.
Nevertheless, the negotiations have not gone that easily: Ferdinand Piech, the grandson of the Porsche founder and head of the Volkswagen group, has been a real obstacle. He has long been ambitious to take control over Porsche, the manufacturer of many hot sports cars. During his time in this position he has taken many efforts to make Volkswagen the mightiest car producer. But finally after a long three-year debate, Porsche gave up the chase and now the patriarchs of the two families, Wolfgang Porsche and Piech, are having discussions upon the structure of the union.
As Time.com reported: “Porsche will be part of Volkswagen, its one-time prey. Porsche will be the tenth brand of VW’s stable, which already includes Audi, Bentley, Czech manufacturer Skoda and the VW brand.”
Volkswagen, instead, continues to be the leader in the European car industry, being 16 times bigger than Porsche.
The head of Volkswagen’s works council, Bern Osterloh, comments about the confusion in the structure: “It appears that the terms merger and integration are being used interchangeably here. And, because of VW’s bylaws alone, we are more than skeptical that the way for a merger can be made clear at all.”
Strategically the union is useful and profitable for Porsche, as Volkswagen is its most important parts supplier.
Photo © lorentey, justinbaeder
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