Jalopnik: Wendelin Wiedeking

Porsche Boss Finds Baby Monitor In Room, Freaks Out About Corporate Spying

Ben Wojdyla — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 10:40:00 EDT

Wendelin Wiedeking has got a lot on his plate right now. The CEO of Porsche has got a line of cars selling like hotcakes, a new super sedan around the corner, and is trying to expand their stake in Volkswagen on the side. So when an operating baby monitor was found in his hotel room ahead of his attendance at a meeting of VW's advisory board, we can understand if a little concern was in order. No allegations have been leveled yet, but an investigation is underway and the possibility of corporate espionage is not out of the question. We'll have to see what happens, but something is rotten in Lower Saxony. [AP Story on Yahoo]

O Canada! Snappy Dispatch On VW-Porsche Marriage From Our Neighbor To The North

Matthew DeBord — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 19:00:00 EDT

Here's nice piece of car-business analysis, from north of the border. Volkswagen wants to take another crack at the North American market, and according to biz writer Eric Reguly of The Globe and Mail, VW might be able to pull it off, despite some major hurdles. However, when it comes to the larger goal of knocking Toyota off its perch...well, there are some problems.

First and foremost, VW needs to take on North America and the Toyota hegemony in partnership with Porsche. And, according to Reguly, who cites German press reports, Porsche CEO Wendelin Wiedeking and VW chief Ferdinand Piech don't get along to well. As far as we can tell, Wiedeking is ticked off because VW has a deal that prevents the sort of cost-cutting measures that Porsche wants to implement at VW, as Porsche moves toward owning most of VW. Sounds like a potentially juicy automotive soap opera to us.

And props to Reguly for laying it all out so cleanly, with just a tantalizing hint of speculation. We're keepin' an eye on that guy.

Porsche to Volkswagen: We Will Not Break You!

Mike Spinelli — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 11:15:13 EST

The headline's dialog snip contains an awkward metaphor to be sure. Porsche's HQ is a few clicks to the West of Ivan Drago's crimson homeland, and Volkswagen logically has more in common with a Philadelphia cheesesteak than with Rocky Balboa. But the sentiment is there: Porsche's going out of its way to assure VW workers it won't leverage its new right to buy the Wolfsburg company as a means to bust it apart. This week, Porsche, led by CEO Wendelin "Not to Be Trifled With" Wiedeking formed a new holding company after getting some good news from German courts, which struck down the "Volkswagen law" preventing any entity from controlling more than a third of VW. The rampaging Stuttgarters took out full-page newspaper ads reiterating an intent to keep the two companies separate, with VW remaining in "its current form." But as Reuters reports, union bosses are less than impressed with the outreach, which they note, states nothing about VW's future. Are we witnessing the beginning of a labor war to end all labor wars, or are we just phoning in this sentence by using an obvious historical reference? Find out this winter, at a barricade near you. [Reuters]

EU Court Set to Allow Porsche Purchase of VW

Ray Wert — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 10:15:00 EDT

It sounds like a Porsche takeover — err — they're German automakers, so maybe that should read "merger of equals" — of VW looks to become an almost certain thing as we're hearing the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg is expected today to strike down the so-called Volkswagen Law, a statute devised by the German government to protect the auto giant from an unwanted takeover. This will finally allow Porsche's chairman, Wendelin Wiedeking, to fulfill his declaration of intent for Volkswagen to rival the super best number one awesome automaker from the rising sun, Toyota. So we guess ~~the underpants gnomes~~ Wiedeking's three-step plan to ~~profit~~ rivaling Toyota is:

Step One: Buy VW
Step Two: ???
Step Three: Rival Toyota

We're sure they'll let us know what "Step Two" is at some point. [via New York Times]

Autoextremist Not Hot For Wiedeking

Davey G. Johnson — Wed, 07 Mar 2007 14:30:00 EST

Sweet Peet fires a few shots across Wendelin's bow in this week's tirade, calling the Cayenne an abject failure and current Porsche management a bunch of bumbling bureaucrats who've essentially pissed away Porsche's legacy. We're not so sure about that. Cayenne sales certainly have reached the saturation point; everyone who wants one has one. But the His Sweetness continually talks about Wiedeking's faithlessness to Dr. Porsche's legacy. Lest we forget, ol' Ferdinand designed tractors and tanks. Porsche, like Honda, is an engineering company, and while the Cayenne is ungainly and not something we would ever buy, it is an engineering feat. We'd probably buy a Tiger tank, though. Actually, we'd totally buy a Tiger tank and roll through the streets of Modesto cranking Wilson Pickett. – Davey G. Johnson

The Man Who Sold Porsche's Soul. [Autoextremist]

Spoil Sport: Porsche Boss Could Take Away VW's "Toys"

Mike Spinelli — Thu, 11 Jan 2007 08:49:03 EST

Porsche CEO Wendelin "Wunderkind" Wiedeking says the company has no plans to port Porsche's very precise management style and Bruce ber Alles ethos to Volkswagen, despite an increasing ownership stake. Wiedeking told Automobile News that he wouldn't seek greater control than a spot on the supervisory board. He also said VW could one day become as successful as Toyota, but that in order to mine the gold locked in Volkswagen's geological strata, "you have to dig day and night." Of course, more telling is this quote, a reaction to the question of Bugatti and Lamborghini's fate: "no toys anymore." Or should that read "no competition anymore." – Mike Spinelli

It's Expected, He's Gone: Bernhard No Longer to Represent Vee Dub

Davey G. Johnson — Fri, 29 Dec 2006 18:15:00 EST

Shock of shocks! After being passed over for the HMIC/Lord of All He Surveys at Volkswagen in favor of Herr Doktor Martin "Your vife, my vife" Winterkorn, it looks more and more like Wolfgang Bernhard will be bailing on the boys from Wolfsburg, making him a prime candidate to replace Tom LaSorda at Chrysler. However, there is the little issue of the two-year noncompete clause in Bernhard's contract. Does this mean that one of the brightest minds in autoexecudom will be sidelined while Pi ch continues to assert his capricious will via VW's supervisory board and Auburn Hills proves that it seemingly has no idea what it's doing without the firm hand of a German at the helm? Dr. Z, Wendelin, do something! – Davey G. Johnson

Volkswagen's Bernhard Is Poised To Leave Over Planned Shake-Up [Wall Street Journal (sub. req.)]

Porsche Shoots for All the Marbles: Considers Suing German Government for Control of VW

Mike Spinelli — Wed, 16 Aug 2006 17:00:51 EDT

Mess not with Wendelin the Lionhearted, ye Saxon dogs! Lest ye be dispatched with a slash of Porsche general counsel's mighty broadpen. Argh! What are we on about? It seems the large and in charge leader of the Porsche dream team, Mr. Wiedeking, wants the corporate control that should go along with owning a controlling share of Volkswagen. Porsche has already paid $4.2 billion Boxster bux to nab 21.2 percent of VW (with an option to grab up an additional 3.9 percent). The next largest stockholder is the regional Government of Lower Saxony, which can exersize veto power, as appointed by law. Hockeypucky! says Wendelin, who wants what he paid for — that is, the equivalent of a majority vote over major decisions at VW. Analysts say it's the beginning of a debate over V-dub's future and its potential to be subject to a hostile takeover, and over Porsche's ability to wield enough power to prevent such a fate. It may not be quite the Sack of Magdeburg, but hopefully it won't take 30 years to sort it all out. [Thanks to Ed for the tip.]

Porsche battles government's grip [International Herald Tribune]

Related:
Porsche to Become Main VW Shareholder [internal]

Autoextremist's Christmas Advice

Davey G. Johnson — Wed, 14 Dec 2005 19:45:45 EST

Sweet Peet D. dresses up as a happy little elf and dispenses seasonal treats to the auto industry's brands and CEOs, flinging potshots and coming up with vanity plate options. Our favorite is his dis of Porsche main man Wendelin Dubya: "For his stocking, Wiedeking gets a bag of Kingsford briquettes and a V-6 Cayenne with a license plate that reads 'TRUCKR.'" As a side note, Peet's also apparently seen the new Camaro concept and has duly pronounced it "killer."

The Autoextremist Stocking Stuffers - Were you naughty or nice? [Autoextremist]

Related:
Autoextremist's Predictions for '06 [Internal]