Autoblog

In the land of mergers and acquisitions, there are takeovers, there are hostile takeovers, and then there are I'm Gonna Git You Sucka No Matter What takeovers. Porsche's increasingly acrimonious battle to swallow VW is becoming that third option, and the brawl might threaten the short term plans of Porsche, VW and Audi. Porsche wants access to Audi engines and electronics, but VW, which owns more than 99-percent of Audi, won't allow it.

Porsche has de facto control of VW, with a 35.1-percent share. The so-called VW Law, which allows the government of Lower Saxony ultimate veto power even though it has only a 20-percent share, has been the broadsword that both VW and Germany have been using to keep Porsche at bay. The law has been struck down at least three times by the EU Commission and a German Court, only to have politicians figure out how to rewrite it without changing the substance of it.

VW's supverisory board recently declared it would need to approve any sharing between Porsche and Audi, and at the moment, Porsche can't overrule that decision. Ferdinand Piech, the head of VW, is in a battle with the Porsche family and Wendelin Wiedeking, the CEO of Porsche, over control, and neither is expected to budge. The risk is that since no one knows how this is all going to play out, a battle of egos and punitive reactions could interrupt development of and platform sharing between – and therefore the profits of – all three manufacturers' future products and technology.

[Source: Automotive News, sub. req'd]

Porsche has raised its stake yet again in Volkswagen, going from a bit above 30% ownership in the German giant to a solid 35.14%. The purchase apparently gives Porsche, or rather the company that owns Porsche – Porsche Automobil Holding SE – control over VW. It released a statement today that said, "as a result of this acquisition, Volkswagen... has become a subsidiary of Porsche Automobil Holding SE." Pursuant to German securities law, Porsche also made an offer to purchase Audi at the bare minimum stock price of 487 euros per share. Though Porsche says there are no plans to separate Audi from VW, it's unlikely VW will accept the offer anyway. All of this is but a single step on Porsche's long path to securing more than 50% ownership in VW. In the meantime, VW representatives will now have a seat on Porsche Automobil Holding's employee council and supervisory board. The power struggle between these two companies will undoubtedly continue, with Porsche Chairman Wolfgang Porsche leading the charge for his company while his cousin, Ferdinand Piech, holds court for Volkswagen and the powerful labor unions that are trying to stop this takeover.

[Source: Automotive News, sub. req'd]

Click above for a hi-res gallery of the Porsche 914

Once every 40 years or so, when the stars are aligned just right, there arises the cosmic possibility for Volkswagen and Porsche to collaborate on a small sportscar. The stars in question seem to be Porsche chairman Dr. Ferdinand Piech, a spirit of takeover cooperation between the two German automakers, and the input of third-party contractor Karmann. It was Dr. Piech, the same man who has been driving Porsche's takeover of the Volkswagen group, who had ushered the original Porsche 914 into reality. But when Volkswagen launches its latest concept at the LA Auto Show this November, it hopes the little Elise fighter will garner enough attention to put the project into production as soon as 2011 with versions for both VW and Porsche.

The original Porsche 914 was based largely on borrowed Volkswagen mechanicals. Karmann was also heavily involved in the 914 project, and could be tapped once again to build the new sportscar for both Volkswagen and Porsche, with the project potentially spawning an Audi R4, as well. Although some sources suggest the Porsche version could adopt the 2.7-liter flat six from the base Boxster, with Zuffenhausen admittedly considering the possibility of going back to four-cylinder engines, anything's possible. Sources point out, however, that the four-cylinder version of the 914 was the top selling model. While you consider the idea of a budget Porsche, check out the high-resolution images of original 914 images in the gallery below.

[Source: Motor Trend via PistonHeads]

Porsche's forthcoming majority stake in Volkswagen has the potential to remove a CAFE-sized thorn from the automaker's side. After a failed bid in Congress to create an exemption for itself from the recently revised fuel economy standards, Porsche needed a way to increase its CAFE rating in the U.S. This might be achieved by combining Porsche and VW's emissions and fuel-economy numbers into one lump sum, thus preserving the automaker's performance heritage.

While this certainly isn't anything new – Ford does it with Mazda, despite a minority stake in the automaker, and Chrysler has done it in the past when it was part owner of Mitsubishi – Volkswagen's average in 2007 was 28.6 mpg, just over the U.S. mandated 27.5 mpg. If Porsche gets thrown into that average, it's obvious that number is going to sink, quickly. However, Volkswagen's plan for the future involves new smaller, fuel-sipping vehicles, like the up! and more diesel-powered vehicles that might bring the number back up, but maybe not enough to meet the 2020 standards of 35 mpg. Porsche execs deny that this was a deciding factor in the buyout, but considering that the gentlemen from Stuttgart have cut a few checks to the feds over the years ($5 million in 2001), we're sure the idea wasn't lost on them while making their bid.

[Source: Autoweek]