That’s about as detailed as Porsche’s chief executive is willing to get about their plans to take over VW. Like a complex game of chess, Porsche is making all the right moves as a lead-up to takeover VW including plans to issue share to raise capital. Porsche is looking at offering 8.75 million new shares, which would give it a large enough war chest to buy the world’s fourth largest carmaker. In recent statements made to BusinessWeek, Weideking stated that Porsche’s members on the VW board planned to be “very active” and that he thought “if anybody can stand up to Toyota, it is Volkswagen.”

German finance rules state that any company with more than 30% of the shares must make a takeover bid, but Porsche is trying to knock this rule down in the European Court of Justice, leaving it free to make a bid on its own terms. Weideking also acknowledged that there may be emotional reasons for the families that control Porsche and VW to bring them together – Ferdinand Porsche designed the VW Beetle for Hitler – but said that both families were also “business people” and would make any moves for strategic advantages only.