Patriarch Piech Pursues Porsche For Personal Reasons

Bertel Schmitt
by Bertel Schmitt

The Porsche-Piëch clan, ca. 1942. Grandfather Ferdinand Porsche, brother Ernst Piëch, sister Louise Piëch and mother Louise Piëch-Porsche. Ferdinand Piëch (nicknamed "Burli") is sitting in the grass on the left.

Volkswagen does not own Porsche yet. For all intents and purposes, however, Porsche is part of Volkswagen. Volkswagen executives give orders from Porsche board seats. Porsche engineers need to consult Volkswagen Group R&D departments. Insular solutions at Porsche require a written permission from Wolfsburg.

“Actually, Piech and his minion, Volkswagen CEO Martin Winterkorn, could leave it at that. The integration of both enterprises has progressed so far, that is does not make a difference whether Porsche morphs into a Volkswagen division, or remains legally independent.

Actually.”

So says Der Spiegel, which says the urge to merge has personal reasons. 74 year old Porsche patriarch Piech wants to join the companies that were started by his grandfather and namesake, Ferdinand Porsche.

In the way are international funds which sued Porsche for billions. Porsche made an offer of a few hundred million Euro, but the funds denied. With the lawsuits ongoing, the risk of buying a company that may have to fork over billions is seen as too high.

Now, Volkswagen’s legal department has developed a solution: Volkswagen could buy the remaining 50.1 percent of the Porsche AG and leave the Porsche Holding behind. The operative business is in the AG. Porsche has a corporate structure that makes a Russian doll look like simplicity. As long as Volkswagen will own “all of Porsche,” nobody will ask which Porsche.

Except the suing investment funds, perhaps.

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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  • Stuki Stuki on Jan 23, 2012

    Once actual operational decisions at P starts being made by vanity seeking geezers, lawyers and finance dweebs, fat chance the kind of engineers capable of staying out in front will bother putting in the effort anymore. RIP, here P comes!

    • Th009 Th009 on Jan 23, 2012

      That vanity-seeking geezer worked on the original 911, 906 and 917 engineering, though, so you have to give him some credit!

  • Robert.Walter Robert.Walter on Jan 23, 2012

    I always assumed that the reported rivalry between Dr. Piech and his cousin Wolfgang Porsche was for the benefit of the public, whereas in reality these guys were scheming for the universal benefit of their clan.

  • Lorenzo Lorenzo on Jan 23, 2012

    Dang, I still think Bertel missed out on writing a book about this. As a novel, the twists and turns would blaze new ground, and the movie rights would have made Bertel rich. Clooney, DiCaprio, Cruise and Pitt would have paid to be in it. A slick lawyer could have assigned liability to the publisher, studio or insurance company.

  • Wallstreet Wallstreet on Jan 24, 2012

    Bertel reminds me of Grandfather Ferdinand Porsche.

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