There goes the next super-Bugatti and super-Audi. *cry like a little girl* Damn you Porsche!

Considering recent management moves at Audi and VW, this is merely the formal announcement of a strategy which has been in place for a long time. Be prepared to see more upscale product at VW, and probably an attempt to streamline competing product.

I always thought Porsche could use a little vag.

If this means a VW 914, I'm all for it.

@DoctorNine: I would love to see them go away from going upscale. How about some love for the Volks?

I guess if you can't compete with the Japanese on reliability you can try to beat them with perceived quality.

Well, all of those Cayennes that Porsche sold are now paying off... If it wasn't for those heavy, overpriced SUV's Porsche wouldn't have the cash to make such a purchase.

How many brands does VW have right now? VW, Seat, Skoda, Audi, Bugatti, Lamborghini, and.....

"Deutschland, Deutschland uber alles . . . "

I see them keeping Bugatti and its cars. An ultra-luxe brand is an ultra-luxe brand. I also like saying ultra-luxe...probably a with French/Monaco accent.

Audi sports coupes with a number higher than 4 are dead meat though. They offload Lambo as well. Lambo to Tata is my new evil rumour to spread....

Pee-Dub?

@B: I'm all for a new 914. How cool would a VR6 914 be? Obviously, they wouldn't want to take sales from the Boxster, but if a collaborative effort between VW and Porsche could bring us a fun little runabout for $25k or so...

Even if it's tree-hugger-ish. The full driveline out of a Jetta TDi would slot midship quite easily.

Why do this, really? What are the long term gains made by this action? Will performance improve downmarket? What image, content, engineering, and branding changes will happen now? Will Porsche products take the quality (and price) lead? Will Porsche cross-level VW content into their vehicles in the interest of profit margin and at the risk of blowing up the brand? Or will Porsche effectively leave VW alone to tend to its own market? Confused...

Bring back an updated 912E.

Forget the 912

@DSLPWR: From my relatively uneducated perspective, it seems Porsche did this for protection. In an increasingly efficiency-oriented market, Porsche doesn't have a very strong future, without a single 4-cyl. motor in their entire lineup. By purchasing a majority stake in a large conglomerate like VW, they ensure their viability for the foreseeable future.

914-6 uber alles.

Oops...my fingers zigged when they should have zagged.

What I wanted to say was forget 912 and 914. Given Porsche's new love of overweight cash cows, what we're getting is a 924esque crossover.

Slap some VW badges on a 911, and you've got yourself a proper New Beetle.

@Sugadadee: dear lord no- remember the last time Lambo was owned by an Indian company? Besides, they're going to have their hands full trying to undo the double-windsor-sailors-bypass knots that Ford put Jaguar and Land Rover in.
I do agree with the concern for Lambo however- this is my biggest fear with this buyout. It's tough to have two performance divisions in a single company, no matter how large said company is. One's gotta play second fiddle, and since Porsche is the boss, they probably won't want to do it.

@DoctorNine: I'm not sure about this- at least in the US market. Because they already kinda failed at bringing Volkswagen upscale. Doesn't mean they can't try it again, but if you already have Audi, and then you have the Panamera, what would be the point? Maybe we'll see some rebadged SEATs or Skodas here as VW Euro bumps up in market.

Maybe we'll see a bunch of mellow, "Porsche lite" rides in the near future

Porsche Cayenne/VW Poblano (goodbye confusing Touareg!)
Porsche Cayman/VW Lizard
Porsche 911/VW 800
Porsche Boxter/VW Roundster
Porsche Panamera/VW Crosstown

I am confused. VW bought SCANIA today, does that mean that Porsche owns Scania aswell....I thought Cayenne was a big Porsche!!

I love Porsche news brought to me at 9:11 in the morning. Thank you, Mr. Wert.

Who would have ever guessed this in the early 90's when Porsche was floundering and on the verge of bankruptcy?

I just hope this doesn't effect Porsche too much and they don't come out with a badge engineered Golf or something awful like that. One thing is for sure though, you can say goodbye to any hope of an Audi R8 Mark II.

Combining two German automakers who have lost the plot together doesn't mean the single company will have a clear direction.

Wait, Porsche owns Lamborghini?

I'm confused...

hope we finally get some rwd audis and vws, doubt the former but cross your fingers ppl

@JantheMan:
Where did you get that bit o news?

@Shapeshifter:

Porsche will soon own Faa-Weh (VW) who currently own Lamborghini.

If A owns B and C buys A, then C owns B:)

Honestly, I don't see too many Audi/Lambo cars threatened by this acquisition. Porsche will be merely expanding their footprint.

The typical 911 Carrera buyer is not interested in a A5 and vice versa. The real targets will be the M and AMG divisions methinks.

@Shapeshifter: Porsche now owns:

-Audi
-Bentley
-Bugatti
-Lamborghini
-SEAT
-Škoda
-Volkswagen
-Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles
-Scania AB
-MAN AG

inactive brands:

-Auto Union
-DKW
-Horch
-NSU
-Wanderer

seems like Dr. Wendelin Wiedeking is seeking world domination here :-D

@EricMerrill: yes, the really couldn't chose a better release date then 9:11! :-D

I'm no finance guy, but I think the better terminology to use would be that Porsche has bought "controlling interest" in VW, not that they are buying it.

I'm not sure I see a lot of synergies with this combination, except perhaps distribution. It seems more like Porsche is just looking for a good place to put their money that isn't in the luxury car market. Where they can share some parts production facilities, maybe there will be some cost savings, but I don't think this means that we're going to see a slew of flat-6 powered VWs or Poor Man's Porsches.

Just in from the good Doktor Wendlin Wiedeking: "All that has transpired has done so according to my design..."
Porsche's influence in VW has always been strong, and with Ferdinand Piech, grandnephew of Ferry Porsche now being the Archduke and vice-Majesty of Volkswagen Group this was not seen as out of the blue.
When the EU repealed the Volkswagen Law Porsche made it clear that they were going to buy a majority in Volkswagen to prevent foreigners from buying the company. Don't think you're not going to see any more R8s or hot Lamborghinis - or Veyrons, for that matter. They have all already been approved of by Piech, hence with the tacit approval of Porsche. Now we just make it official.
History comes full circle, almost - the 911 and the Beetle, as we all know, share the same genes.
Now when's are they going to fit the 911 with a Direktschaltegetreibe?

@weatherman:

Midship Porsche-engined Golf sounds pretty delicious, though. Although VW were already doing this sort of thing with that crazy W12 Golf...

@Number_Six: Thought you were dissing the 912E idea there, but if the view is "Porsche loves its profitable lards," I concur. The 911 needs phoenixed for purity, but Porsche's financial state gives no impetus. To maintain: wouldn't it be nice if Porsche marketed a de-contented eco-sportster Boxster TDI or Cayman TDI? Imagine some form of lightweight turbodiesel sports car. Hope springs eternal...

@ash78: good one.

@やのГ人Ӄ: sounds like a bathroom break to me.

I see this as Porsche's move to become too big to buy out in a hostile takeover type maneuver. They're the most profitable automaker in the world right now (they were, at least...) so they're a tempting target.

Also, I don't really think that 911s and Boxters compete with anything in the Lambo lineup. Two different price points, markets & images. I think they'll both survive just fine. Besides, P doesn't want the reputation as the company that killed Lambo. I don't think that would sit well with the auto buying public. (i.e. Jalopniks) BTW- the Bug fits in at VAG already, and it doesn't compete with anything P makes, either.

Maybe, just maybe, P will do what's right for the brands - VW goes back to being the People's Car, lower end of the market segment, while Audi stays upmarket/luxury. Plenty of room for clear differentiation in my eyes. And who knows, maybe the Panamera will get new sheet metal and become an Audi - that would save Porsche the disgrace of releasing that turd of design, keep the name a bit more pure (pretending the Cayanne doesn't exist), and give Audi a "4-door coupe" to compete with MB & the like.

VW Commercial, MAN & Scania are their own subdivision. I don't care what the marketing guys say, the Cayanne doesn't compete with a MAN.

I'd throw my opinions out about Seat & Skoda, but I've really got no ideas where they fit in the lineup, since I'm American and the world revolves around me.

@killerknut: Thanks for the rundown. That puts almost as many name plates under the Porsche umbrella as there are under GMs. Lets just pray that P does a better job of managing them.

Porsche just bought itself a lot of fuel efficient cars: this will improve the average fuel consumption of its products. They need this both in the USA (CAFE) and in the EU (where if I understand correctly there are some limits on CO2 emissions).

@CEman: It is all over the swedish news...I found some in English [www.thelocal.se] but the most is in swedish use google

Here's a Bloomberg release about the Scania VW merger.
[www.bloomberg.com]

@b33g33: Crazy, considering how many of us grew up with posters of 930 Slantnoses hung next to Countach posters on our bedroom walls.

Note that technically it is not Porsche AG as such but the Porsche-Piech clan's Porsche Automobil Holding SE that holds shares in VW AG. Dr. Wiedeking will not be CEO of VW AG after this transaction, though he will be very influential in discussions about the future direction of both companies.

There are several reasons the Porsche-Piech clan will now buy a controlling stake in VW AG:

a) VW AG is now quite profitable again.

b) Key sections of the Lex VW, a law that strongly favored shares held by the state of Lower Saxony, were recently overturned by the top EU court. In addition, the statutes of the holding company according to European - as opposed to German - law give equal standing to worker representatives from both companies. VW AG's unions have long held sway in Wolfsburg, thanks to the formerly special status of Lower Saxony.

c) VW AG supplies major components for the Cayenne and Panamera models.

d) Porsche faces a weak dollar and soft demand in the US, its primary export market. By leveraging the VW and Audi supply chains more heavily, it can better sustain its own very high profitability.

In particular, Porsche wants to reduce/avoid development and manufacturing costs for diesel engines and hybrid drivetrains. Porsche may also want to join forces with Audi to push the envelope in sequentially turbocharged gasoline engines. A flat eight would be too heavy for a rear-engined design, yet the 911 needs to remain competitive against e.g. the Nissan GT-R.

e) Porsche point blank needs VW AG to have any hope of meeting the upcoming EU fleet average CO2 emissions regulations.

There is no reason to believe Porsche will axe any premium models in the pipelines at Audi, Lamborghini, Bugatti or Bentley - as long as the business case for them is solid. These five brands each have their own clientele, the risk of losing sales to one another is low.

@killerknut: So what's next, annexing Poland?

I sure hope this results in some cool FWD Porsches based on the Golf platform, but with exorbitant prices and ugly styling. I'm all for that.

It'll work.

Most auto corporations do this:

Brand A: $
Brand B: $$
Brand C: $$$
Special editions: $$$$

Now Porsche can simply do this:

VW: $
Audi: $$
Porsche: $$$
Bentley: $$$$
Lamborghini: $$$$$
Bugatti: $$$$$$

That's an impressive range!

so does this help Porsche with its overall mileage and carbon footprint? can they claim Polos on their balance sheet by this?

@my favorite car is a motorcycle:
Seat: -€
Skoda: -€€

+ Watch video

I think the guys over at 'PSA Peugeot Citroën' are busy stitching white flags - just in case of emergency ;-)

It's not like they're going to add a fifth ring or anything, they're just making money through another successful company. Maybe they should buy Chrysler or something....

Add "Sweet German Love" to that list that includes "Military Intelligence" and "Jumbo Shrimp"