Lower Saxony

A file in German prosecutors' case against Volkswagen has gone missing, but it might not have contained vital info for the investigation.

German prosecutors are stepping back from their initial investigation into Martin Winterkorn for alleged fraud in the emissions scandal. They say there's not yet enough evidence to focus on him in the case.

Pots and kettles, glass houses and stones – that's a little of what we appear to have going on in the European car market. New reports say that that three European automakers have registered their opposition to a loan deal that PSA/Peugeot-Citroën is working on with the French government. Peugeot's finance arm, Banque PSA Finance, is struggling with its debts and has been downgraded b

We haven't heard about the Volkswagen Law in a while, but that doesn't mean the EU Commission has forgotten about it. The law gives the state of Lower Saxony, with a 20.1-percent stake in VW, veto rights on a takeover deal, which means no one's ever going to take over VW because its home state won't allow it. The law came in handy when Porsche

Volkswagen's second-largest shareholder, the German state of Lower Saxony, has the final say on the proposed Porsche-Volkswagen merger, and according to a spokesperson for the state's prime minister, Christian Wulff, the new company birthed from the union should be open to outside investors.

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 wants to purchase Volkswagen, this much we know. But before that happens, the huge labor union at VW needs to agree on terms with Porsche management. This, as you may imagine, is proving a bit more difficult than Porsche had hoped, prompting the automaker's senior labor leader Uwe Hueck to lash out at the heads at VW. Not surprisingly, his initial attack received a response from Bernd Osterloh, the head of VW's labor union. It seems that some major sticking points exist that the organize

Porsche is one step closer to its goal of purchasing Volkswagen. Back in April of last year, the German automaker passed the 30-percent mark, forcing it to make an outright offer for The Volkswagen Group in its entirety, which it did. Not too many VW shareholders sold their stake to Porsche, as the bid was for the bare minimum amount allowed by law. Still, the legal requirement had been met, allowing Porsche to con

A procedural glitch, as opposed to Berlin-based intrigue, has postponed Porsche's plan to take over Volkswagen. The EU Commission requires a company to have a controlling interest in a company, or at least an agreement for such, before it will consider a company's application for regulatory approval. To straighten things out, Porsche has raised its stake in VW from 30.6 percent to 35.5 percent, which effectively grants

The Volkswagen Law is doing its best impression of Lazarus -- or perhaps a better analogy would be whack-a-mole. The European Court and minority VW shareholder Porsche keep trying to kill it, but it keeps popping up. Now the German government has agreed on an altered VW law -- but

The so-called "VW law" was struck down by the European Court last October. Previous to that, the state of Lower Saxony was able to veto any Volkswagen shareholder action it didn't like. When the law was struck down it looked like the Lower Saxony had no choice but to watch Porsche, which had been circling shark-like around Volkswagen for a bit, decide on the day it chose to take maj

The ongoing saga, "As the VW Takeover Turns" received a new update via Germany's Der Spiegel news mag (think Time, Newsweek, etc.), where a report revealed that Porsche is aiming to raise its stake in Volkswagen to 51-percent.