The German state of Lower Saxony, however, VW's second-biggest shareholder with around 20% of voting rights, said it plans to keep its stake. This means that decisions made by Porsche, even with a controlling stake, could be blocked by the state.
Original: Porsche has released a statement announcing plans to increase its stake in Volkswagen Group to more than 50% by the end of the year. Porsche’s current shareholding remains at 31% but an increase beyond 50% would effectively give it control of the German giant.
The statement said the goal is also for Porsche and Volkswagen to continue on the path of growth under the holding company Porsche Automobil Holding but to also retain their independence. "Porsche will also remain Porsche in the future. And Volkswagen will also remain Volkswagen. That is the success formula," Porsche CEO Wendelin Wiedeking said in the statement.
There remains fears that sports car programs from Audi, Bentley and Bugatti that could potentially compete with Porsche’s sports cars could be canceled once the Stuttgart-based carmaker takes control, reports Automotive News.
The announcement comes less than a week after Germany approved a revised version of its 48-year old VW Law, which mandates that any major strategic decisions within VW would still have to be approved by just over 80% of shareholders. This means that decisions made by Porsche, even with a controlling stake, could be blocked by the German state of Lower Saxony, which still holds 20% of VW.
Reader Comments
Thu May 29 2008 8:27 AM
chris says
sounds like the VW law will still protect VW, because of lower saxony. porshe is just trying to get a majority so that they can cut out the other share holders, increase profits, and also, share combined pollution standards when that time comes (very soon).
Thu May 29 2008 12:07 PM
burke says
A smart move from Porsche I would considering the uncertain times the automobile industry is going through these days. I am not an expert in marketing, but I don't foresee an increase in the demand of high performance (costly) vehicles at least in the US market, without a doubt, one of the most important market goals for the German imports. With the move, they could control loses of liquid capital and buy some time to do what they do best: research.
Thu May 29 2008 5:46 PM
STIG says
i think , this is the second good idea porsche comes out with since 1965
1-producing carrera GT
2- increase its stake in Volkswagen Group
the other ideas like .. cayman ... panamera ... is stupid
bud i dont know why porsche may cancel any production of any car that compete its car ...
i dont think so ...
Thu May 29 2008 8:51 PM
The Porsche Pit says
Interesting, Good part on Porsches behalf. Alot of people dont like the Cayenne but it was very smart of Porsche to stay innovative and keep the company growing. This is just another step in expanding their empire.
Ryan
Thu Jul 24 2008 10:49 AM
brad says
this sucks, this means no development from audi that may compete with one of porsches products, aka no r4 or the so called boxster killer.
Thu Jul 24 2008 10:57 AM
christian says
Yeah I would of really like to have seen audi develop the R8 further into the future, and build off of it possibly into as mentioned above the R4. I guarantee this wont happen now, nothing that will threaten porsches sales, just like the R8 did.
Thu Jul 24 2008 2:59 PM
Hammy says
THIS IS NOT GOOD AT ALL, AUDI FANS LIKE MYSELF ARE VERY, VERY DISAPPOINTED.
Thu Jul 24 2008 4:11 PM
Adam says
R I P--------------- R8 & R4
Thu Jul 24 2008 4:16 PM
--Graham-- says
Bentley and audi had promising futures, i guess bentley will go back to making old man sedan's, and audi may see the end of some of the "R" models. As for bugatti i see porsche using alot of the research from this company for their next supercar.
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