Being the CEO of a major car manufacturer is not traditionally considered a job that will net you paychecks on par with Formula 1 drivers. For Porsche CEO Wendelin Wiedeking, however, his salary for last year will leave you thinking otherwise.

Wiedeking is thought to have earned more than €60 million ($89 million), which puts him ahead of fellow top dogs Carlos Ghosn of Renault-Nissan, Alan Mullaly from Ford, Dieter Zetsche of Daimler and Sergio Marchionne of Fiat.

By comparison, Ghosn's salary for 2007 was €34.49 million, according to Automobilwoche, and Zetsche's paycheck was a relatively low €10.67 million. Mulally was paid the equivalent of €13.9 million last year and Marchionne earned just €6.91 million.

Wiedeking has defended his salary, pointing to increased corporate profits and bonuses for workers and shareholders as justification for the excessive ammount.

In his defense, pre-tax profits for Porsche did rise nearly €4 billion from €2.1 billion to €5.9 billion over the past year, and the carmaker is on the verge of overtaking the mighty Volkswagen Group. Not bad for a niche sports carmaker.