No news here now. Please move on. Look for it's impact in 3 to 4 years in a showroom near you.

bmwloco

the "low" in Lower Saxony refers to altitude above mean sea level, not to geographical latitude.

rgseidl

If memory serves, MAN in turn owns Steyr trucks, Graf & Stift, OAF, ERF and probably some other truck brands I've forgotten.

earlofhalflight

JantheMan

JantheMan

and Either the R8 or the gallardo gets dumped

blazer

Porsche is looking to make its own European Union, ja?

Elhigh

***Hopefully Porsche will make VW focus on reliability & the People's Car and stop trying so hard to be Audi.

I still get the feelings that right now there is a smoky room full of Baden-Württembergians wearing their old PickelHaubens like Otto Von Bismarck, wringing their hands and laughing like Dr. Evil; Mu-Muhah-Muahahahahahahahah!



--Also, why is Lower Saxony at a Higher Latitude than Regular Saxony?

wonkydonky

Thanks

Seems there is a tidal wave of consolidation in the EU auto biz. Probably not a bad thing.

It should be be noted that this has not yet happened. And, as someone pointed out, Porsche will have an controlling equity stake, not overall onwership. That would be a much higher investment.

CEman

Andrewpetty

BRING ME the Porsche-powered 600-horsepower M3-eating RS4.

BRING ON the Porsche-powered-and-tweaked-but-still-not-fucking-available-in-Canada VW New Scirocco. (Can we call it a Corrado? Please?)

BRING ON the Porsche-powered VW Touareg. Wait... skip that one.

BRING BACK the VW Phaeton and move it over to Porsche with 750 horsepower and some styling, put it with a brand that deserves it.

I think I'm done for now. Our resident VW-phile needs a smoke now.

Dearthair the Totally Uncreative

I'm confident that Porsche will remain an RWD / AWD manufacturer and, as always, refrain from tacky non-functional crap on their automobiles. Sharing of technology and manufacturing resources doesn't make for boring vehicles unless the automaker has no imagination. If the Cayenne is any example, Porsche delivers true sports cars, even when they have 4 doors and weigh 500 kg too much. Few who have driven the Cayenne come away with a poor impression of vehicle performance.

Everyone knows that true sportscars are not FWD, though, so there's no chance of a Porsche-badged Golf. A Cadillac-badged Cobalt, maybe, but not a Porsche-badged Golf.

my favorite car is a motorcycle

Mine were a 959 and an F40 (Never had much love for the Bull).

My argument still stands though. Totally different cars with totally different personalities. Also, if you're talking about the high end of the spectrum, anyone who can afford one (Carrera 4S) can afford another (R8)

These brands are differentiate enough that there will be minimal sales cannibalization (as long as they dont fuss with the formula too much)

b33g33

akirachan

Mysterious Utility Bento

Turboner

+ Watch video

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

killerknut

JantheMan

abgwin

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!

my favorite car is a motorcycle

usa1

NovaloadMissesPolar

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.

rgseidl

Tomsk

UDMan

JantheMan

dwegmull

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.

FЯeeMan

@ash78: good one.

DSLPWR

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

Shapeshifter

cmdrfire

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.

weatherman

-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

killerknut

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.

b33g33

CEman

karmakid

I'm confused...

Shapeshifter

j6r

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.

racerx

Eric Merrill

JantheMan

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

Ash78

@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.

mikedrawcar

Maymar - future Suzuki booth babe

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.

Number_Six

Al Navarro

Unevolved 8.04

Number_Six

DSLPWR

DSLPWR

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

smalleyxb122

POLAЯ is taking his work underground. He can't let it fall into the wrong hands again!

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....

Sugadadee

Morphine

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

UDMan

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

qwerk

B

-chet

DoctorNine

Ash78

killerknut