Porsche Panamera

Porsche Panamera

Porsche is on the verge of forming a deeper tie-up with the Volkswagen Group in what can only be described as a major acquisition of the legendary sports car manufacturer. There’s plenty of talk that Porsche will remain independent but at the end of the day it will just be another subsidiary of Volkswagen, just like Bentley or Bugatti.

Things in North America, however, will be slightly different as Porsche is likely to run autonomously on our shores after its integration with Volkswagen Group. The information was revealed by Porsche spokesman Tony Foladpour, who said: "We have been assured that Porsche will remain Porsche, and this was also mentioned today amidst all the breaking news."

This means that Porsche’s North American division will most likely continue to report to its own local headquarters. This is a similar practice to what most of the other Volkswagen Group brands are already doing--Volkswagen reports to Wolfsburg (Germany), Bentley to Crewe (England) and Audi to Ingolstadt (Germany).

The Volkswagen Group announced this week that it plans to buy 43% of Porsche and complete the integration of the two companies by the end of 2011. The state of Qatar, which has recently sought a share of Porsche and Volkswagen Group both, has also been welcomed into the deal as well as a key shareholder.

[AutoNews, sub req'd]