Porsche And VW: Living Together, But Not Married

Bertel Schmitt
by Bertel Schmitt

A lot of people assume Porsche and Volkswagen have long been united. Well they kind of are. They make cars together. They share management. Winterkorn is also Boss of Porsche SE. Former Volkswagen strategist Matthias Müller is now CEO of Porsche. Go to any tradeshow: Porsche is where Volkswagen, Audi, Seat, Skoda, Bugatti etc. are. Porsche and Volkswagen are united in everything but the final signature. And that may wait a little longer.

The fusion of Volkswagen and Porsche, on the calendar for next year, may be delayed. The reason? Lawyers. There is a lot of pending action against Porsche. Investment funds sued. For several billions. In Germany, the public prosecutor investigates possible market manipulation. You don’t want to officially own a company as long as there are sinister legal threats. Worst comes to worst, Porsche goes bankrupt and THEN Volkswagen buys it for cents on the euro.

CFO Poetsch’s tax-optimized merger model also isn’t completely watertight yet, reports Automobilwoche [sub]. If they absolutely have to, Volkswagen can buy the remaining 50.1 percent outright. For arcane reasons you really don’t want to know, this is only advisable in a window that opens between November 15 2012 and January 31, 2015. But don’t worry (or don’t get your hopes up):

“”Porsche and the brands of the Volkswagen group will unite and together, they will become number one,“ promises Winterkorn. When exactly remains unclear. Before 2018?

Bertel Schmitt
Bertel Schmitt

Bertel Schmitt comes back to journalism after taking a 35 year break in advertising and marketing. He ran and owned advertising agencies in Duesseldorf, Germany, and New York City. Volkswagen A.G. was Bertel's most important corporate account. Schmitt's advertising and marketing career touched many corners of the industry with a special focus on automotive products and services. Since 2004, he lives in Japan and China with his wife <a href="http://www.tomokoandbertel.com"> Tomoko </a>. Bertel Schmitt is a founding board member of the <a href="http://www.offshoresuperseries.com"> Offshore Super Series </a>, an American offshore powerboat racing organization. He is co-owner of the racing team Typhoon.

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 4 comments
  • GrandCharles GrandCharles on Oct 19, 2010

    Oh come on! That as got to be a fake!

  • Jckirlan Jckirlan on Oct 19, 2010

    Check out the brides maid. Hubba Hubba. Or whatever it is they say these days.

  • ZoomZoom ZoomZoom on Oct 19, 2010

    Holy crap. It's a rare bride who could laugh that one off. Moral to the story for the groom: Never ask your drinking buddy to be your best man. Moral to the story for the bride: Call off the wedding plans if your fiance wants to ask his drinking buddy to be the best man.

  • Nick Nick on Oct 19, 2010

    Those bridesmaids are freakin' hot. I never got invited to a wedding with bridesmaids like that...stupid friends that I have. I'd totally Joe Pesci in Goodfellas the best man though.

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