Porsche tells VW: We won't eat you until after the holidays, Merry Christmas
Porsche got what it wanted with the repeal of the "Volkswagen Law", but has done nothing yet but stand over its prey, waiting for... well, nobody knows what Porsche is waiting for. However, Porsche CEO Wendelin Wiedeking has told VW that the smaller company will not make Christmas dinner of the larger: Porsche will wait until after the holidays to take majority control of Volkswagen.His exact words were "Christmas is the holiday of peace; let's create a little harmony." Yet there doesn't seem to be much of that going around. Porsche created a new board structure, and the board will have six seats. Porsche and VW workers thought that meant that each company got three seats each. VW, with 324,000 workers to Porsche's slightly-less-than 12,000, doesn't like that arrangement, so it's suing for more seats. Wiedeking clarified the board structure to say that either company could have as many seats as both sides could agree to -- but that he wouldn't go against Porsche employees' expectation of three.
So no one knows how the transaction will play out -- and to hear Wiedeking tell it, that includes him. "Even now," he said, "none of the players involved knows how many moves will still be required and how long it will take until the game is finally over." If this were a movie, he would then laugh maniacally, stroke the white cat in his lap, and hit the big red button on the console in front of him. But it's not. So, like everyone else, we'll just wait and see.
[Source: IHT]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Sam 1:20PM (11/28/2007)
Don't say Christmas. Secular Europeons and wacko liberals get offended when anyone mentions anything with Christ in it. Americans even think 'separation of church and state' is in the constitution. Unbelieveable.
Reply
taipeileviathan 1:28PM (11/28/2007)
uh, the concept of separation of church and state IS laid out in the first amendment, albeit not verbatim: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof". quibbling on about the exact wording of the constitution is just poor argumentative form...
Mike F. 1:48PM (11/28/2007)
You watch too much Bill O...
Mike F. 1:54PM (11/28/2007)
You watch too much Bill O...
Darren 5:27AM (11/29/2007)
And this has what to do with the subject at hand? Hmmm?
Unbelievable!
tom 1:20PM (11/28/2007)
I think that the $8.6 Billion pretax profit is actually the bigger news. That is incredible for a car manufacturer that small.
Reply
Pete 1:46PM (11/28/2007)
Christmas has nothing to do with Christ. It's about gifts, a big fat man, and eating lots of food!
Franck 6:27PM (11/28/2007)
Dynasty: 1 : a succession of rulers of the same line of descent 2 : a powerful group or family that maintains its position for a considerable time. VW and Porsche are a big family. VW knew the law would be repealed allowing for a hostile takeover, so the family (Porsche) increased its stake in VW. This is not hostile. It's done to protect. VW dynasty is gaining momentum, not the other way around. Merry Christmas Toyota!
Reply
testa di cazzo 2:00PM (11/28/2007)
The sad thing is, this will be a major blow for Lamborghini, and sadly, it could be the killer blow for Bugatti, which Porsche has already openly stated they will kill when they take over VWAG...
Reply
testa di cazzo 2:01PM (11/28/2007)
Also, you can say bye-bye to the R8....
rgseidl 12:45PM (11/29/2007)
Porsche has been careful not to rush into raising its stake from 30.1% to over 50% because it knows full well that its profit-oriented management style will come as a culture shock to workers at the core VW brand (much less so at Audi et al.)
The composition of the board of the new holding company will be 6 for the shareholders, 3 for representatives of Porsche AG workers and 3 for representatives of VW AG workers. The whole point of this arrangement is to curtail the power of VW's mighty Betriebsraete, who have de facto ruled the roost there for almost four decades. The unions' focus has been on generous terms and conditions for their' members, including job guarantees.
Among other issues, a two-thirds majority of the board is required to decide on the location where a new model will be built. Porsche's worker representatives are profit-oriented and get on well with management.
After becoming a majority shareholer, Porsche will indeed look at the profitability of each of VW's brands, including especially Seat. The high end brands and models are actually less of a financial than a brand positioning issue, though the Veyron is admittedly a massive loss leader. Wiedeking has also indicated he wants to reduce Skoda's market share in Western Europe in favor of making and selling more VWs, precisely because the Wolfsburg plant is running well below capacity. In Germany, it is virtually impossible to lay off production line workers.
nagmashot 2:17PM (11/28/2007)
Why should Porsche kill something from Audi Lamborghini Bugatti?
A giant part from Porsches profit comes from the stocks they own in the Volkswagen AG... the more success Audi or Labo has the more money Porsche earns...
competition reviving business
a Porsche buyer do not switch to Lambo..and I hardly see a Lambo customer looking for a Porsche
Reply
testa di cazzo 2:25PM (11/28/2007)
i agree with that, but Porsche execs don't. they've said repeatedly that they will kill Bugatti, and they don't want the competition from Lambo or the R8. To them, the 911 is the king, and nobody should compete with it.
although, i hope you're right nagmashot
nagmashot 3:50PM (11/28/2007)
there is currently no officle statment what way Porsche goes with VW... in fact there is at the moment a hard fight between Porsche chief Weidiking and Piech (ex chief of VW and large owner of Porsche) ...
There are different szenarios..
- all went as now with more technical exchange between the brands (thats what Piech wants)
- the VW empire gets destroyed and every brand becomes a partner with equal rights under the Porsche Automobil Holding that would be the end of VAG.. the current plans to add MAN and Scania to the Volkswagen truck group would make Porsche in one swap the largest truck producer in Europe too...
- destroying the VW empire .. Skoda Seat are set back to local brands in their home market, Audi get rid of everything under the A4 (Wiedekind don´t want that A3 sales murder Golf sales) he wants to sregth the VW makre.. get rid of Bugatti Bentley and Lamborghini that are Wiedekinds plans... at least a newspaper claims that...
The Wiedekind plane makes no sence at all.. Bentley and Lamborghini are doing very well earning money and they gave the whole brand prestige... Bugatti will never make money it is only a showcase..
Selling A3 is good..they bring more money as the Golf... who cares if they could have sold one million more Golf the last years if they recived from the A3 more profit..
Audi needs cars like the R8 to sharpen it´s profil...
Many people think a Audi A4 is just a jumped up Jetta..ignoring that they use different platforms trannys etc..they only share some basic engines..
Only with cars like the R8 Audi can step away from VW smell..
Audi is the money mashine in the VW empire.. the largest part of the VW sussess comes from Audi... Porsche would be twice stupid to kill anything that stops Audi´s success..
why not the LS2/LS7? 2:30PM (11/28/2007)
I think his thoughts were "we're trying to wangle a low-volume cost loophole in the US for 2007, so buying Europe's largest automaker at the end of the year makes no sense".
Reply
Darren 5:29AM (11/29/2007)
This is truly a soap opera in the making. A soap opera I am actually interested in watching!!!
Reply
Thanh T. 12:18PM (11/29/2007)
In today's business environments delivering value to customers and managing customer relationships in better ways that benefit the organization as a whole and its stakeholders/shareholders are the top priority.
I breifly read the repeal of the "Volkswagen Law"...it's a bit technical. In today's business environmnets, International Law is in a class by itself...some important information maybe previlege information...
It's very interesting to see a smaller company like Porsche vying for more control of the VW brand.
Very interesting article...
Reply