VW Approves Porsche Take Over
VW to assimilate Porsche, but HQ will stay in Stuttgart
Will the next Golf GTI feature 'tuning by Porsche' badges? Probably not, but an agreement by the VW board to rescue the debt-ridden Porsche car business definitely opens up possibilities for close co-operation.
Martin Winterkorn, boss of VW
A statement from VW's chairman Martin Winterkorn after yesterday's meeting to approve the takeover, suggests the two companies will be looking carefully at ways to reduce costs.
'The envisaged union of Volkswagen and Porsche follows a compelling industrial logic and offers promising perspectives: it makes two strong companies even stronger. Volkswagen and Porsche have excellent know-how at their disposal and can use their resources even more efficiently by combining them,' he says
Would 'handling by Porsche' badges annoy PHers?
'Like Audi today, Porsche can also continue its independent development under the aegis of Volkswagen and preserve its own identity. We have great respect for the achievements of the Porsche workforce and are convinced that Porsche can enrich the Volkswagen Group – just as Volkswagen can vice versa enrich Porsche.'
Both make great cars at their respective levels so I am sure this is only going to end up in lots more toys that we want to play with!
Porsche tweeked GTI could be very interesting, though keep the badges seperate!
I wonder what influence will be made over Audi, Bentley & Lambo???
VW & Porsche co-operate to a greater degree than is publicly known anyway, so from a product perspective its not going to change much. In the long term, it has to be a good thing.
Lamborghini seem to have done OK under VW ownership without excessive platform sharing.
Of the many moans about the Cayenne, relatively few were that it shared much with sister VAG group cars - mostly that Porsche made a pigs ear of the styling......not that the VAG cars are actually much better.
Platform sharing where it makes sense doesn't need to be a problem.
As for parts sharing, lots of Porsche parts have fit VW vehicles for decades with minimal fuss, from dropping 911 engines into Camper Vans to now fitting Porsche brakes to a Seat Leon.
Hell, even the ECUs must be remarkably similar just look at how you Remapping companies always develop VW/Audi/Seat/Porsche at the same time but not Toyota/Vauxhall/Ford/Whatever.
I'd say they've been the same company in all but name for a long long time.
It's a shame that the two men responsible for bringing Porsche to it's kneees left with so much money in their pockets.
The amount they were given makes Fred Goodwin's payoff look positively modest
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