Carmakers Porsche and VW to merge

[zf44]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8036748.stm


Carmaker Porsche says it has agreed a merger with fellow German manufacturer Volkswagen (VW) after weeks of talks between the two firms' management. The luxury carmaker said in a statement that it wanted to see the "creation of an integrated car manufacturing group".
VW hailed the decision of the Porsche and Piech families, owners of Porsche group, to create the merger.
It means a Porsche takeover of VW will not happen. The format of the new group will be decided in the next four weeks.
Talks will now take place between the two carmakers, VW's home state of Lower Saxony, and employee representatives.
The state's president Christian Wulff said in a statement: "We are ready for discussions, which must be carried out quickly."
Brand independence

Porsche will now hold further discussions with VW


The move should unite 10 brands under one roof, Porsche said.
Nine of the brands are owned by VW, and the other is the Porsche sports car brand.
"In the final structure 10 brands shall stand below an integrative leading company alongside each other, whereby the independence of all brands and explicitly also of Porsche shall be ensured," a Porsche statement said.
It also said that its plan would also include unspecified "capital measures".
In January, Porsche announced it had increased its stake in Volkswagen to more than 50%, and said it planned to lift its stake in VW to 75%.
However, even with a 75% stake it would not have been able to take complete control because under the "VW law" the state of Lower Saxony, which holds a 20% stake, can block strategic decisions.
Stock markets had closed before the announcement, with Porsche shares up 1.2%, and VW's down slightly, by 0.4%.

[RickT]

This has been on the cards for the last few years....

Hes a fact for you all.......

Porsche and Volkswagen jointly developed the Cayenne and the Touareg. They are built on the same chassis and share many components.

Although the two vehicles were largely co-developed, Porsche and Volkswagen parted company two years before the introduction of the pair to work in secret on the remaining aspects of the cars.

The Cayenne and Touareg share the same chassis, transmission, AWD system, suspension, windshield, doors, and some sheet metal.


It should be noted that the Cayenne is more focused on paved-road conditions, whereas the Touareg was designed to be equally capable on pavement and off-road. Consequently the Porsche transmission is tuned with more rear power bias than the Touareg. Under normal driving conditions, the Porsche sends 62 percent of torque to the rear wheels, whereas the Touareg splits torque 50/50 front and rear. Both vehicles are capable of sending 100% of the torque to either the front or the rear wheels if traction condi tions warrant.

Rick

[paul b]

I wonder if the next gen A6 will have an engine mounted in the back?

[goodersthea]

i heard that porsche made 8 billion last year, 1.2 or so from car making and the rest from stock market dealings. most of which involved this alleged take over bid, which as far as i know never happened! a lot of hedge funds and stock brokers got had for all their worth and it was being investigated by the german fsa.

i can imagine all the porsche owning brokers forming a big long queue at the nearest dealer after getting so well fleeced