There are temptingly cheap jokes to be made following the announcement that "the green light has been given for the shared vehicle architecture strategy of the future" between Audi and Porsche. So here goes...
Well it is already sort of underway...
The obvious ones would concern an army of pitchfork wielding Porsche fans sweeping down from the Swabian hills to protect 911s, Boxsters and Caymans against the forced introduction of understeer in place of steering feel. 'Roots in racing, not posing' meets Vorsprung Durch Technik on the field of battle and all that.
This is obviously nonsense of course. Ferdinand Piech gave us both the Porsche 917 and the Audi Quattro, the RS2 Avant benefitted from Porsche know-how and parts and the technical collaboration in the current product line-up is well known. Peer under a Porsche Macan and you'll see plenty of Audi-stamped components from its shared Q5 underpinnings, for example. The V6 and V8 engines in the new Panamera are co-designed with Audi and both brands benefit from the wider VW group's long-established parts sharing economies of scale.
Still, given all that you have to wonder why Audi has gone to the trouble of issuing a press release today specifically highlighting the fact that further technical collaboration between the two brands has been given aforementioned green light.
"The best brains of both companies will together set the technical course for the future," says Audi boss Rupert Stadler. "We are united by many shared values, above all, by our pursuit of the best solutions and the best offerings for our customers." So far, so corporate, his opposite number at Porsche Oliver Blume echoing the sentiment while attempting reassurance this won't see Porsche absorbed into the Audi machine. "We will cooperate wherever it makes sense," he states in the release. "But we will also be very careful to maintain the differentiation between our brands. A Porsche is always a Porsche, and that will remain so in the future."
Start your 911 replacement theories now!
Look at it this way; Audi has stuck by its guns of hanging heavy engines out over the front axle and worked on creative ways of mitigating the unfavourable handling attributes this brings. And Porsche vice versa with its rear-engined models. Could literally meeting in the middle benefit both brands?
Probably not. These fundamental values will likely survive any attempts to integrate the brands and the iconic products in the respective ranges will remain just that. Expect instead an extension of what's already been happening with profitable 'non specialist' product concluding "the focus is on the joint development of shared vehicle architectures, modules and components" that will enable Porsche to lean on Audi's resources when developing products like the Mission-E. And who knows, maybe Audi wants to do another RS2-type project and sling some Porsche bits on some of its Audi Sport product. Worked last time!