If you've been following this, Porsche has been trying to takeover Volkswagen for the past year or so. They finally got a 75% stake in VW today, sending VW stock through the roof and royally screwing all the brokers who short sold, assuming VW would tank like the American car companies. By the way, VW is currently "worlds most valuable company", period, not just most valuable car company.

As I understand it, the German auto unions resisted this. Imagine the profit margins of Porsche though, that allow a company that makes less than 100,000 vehicles a year takeover one that makes millions.

I was reading an article about the Porsche and Piech families kissing and making up just Sunday night. If I had a brain in my head I should have known this was coming.



[Edited on October 28, 2008 at 7:44 PM. Reason : .]

10/28/2008 7:37:34 PM

maybe they will bring in some decent electrical engineers

10/28/2008 7:39:33 PM

Black wire is hot!

10/28/2008 7:41:23 PM

[Edited on October 28, 2008 at 8:52 PM. Reason : nvm]

10/28/2008 8:50:45 PM

Quote :

"Imagine the profit margins of Porsche though, that allow a company that makes less than 100,000 vehicles a year takeover one that makes millions."

You should be aware that Porsche also brings in a lot of revenue as an engineering consultant firm.

I read this in the WSJ today, and while its pretty cool VW won't hold onto that title too long. Its shares are overvalued and will come down a little bit.

And I don't understand the photo?

10/28/2008 8:57:03 PM

obviously you're not a golfer

10/28/2008 8:57:42 PM

are you talking to me? I play golf probably 10 times a year or so. I could care less about keeping up with the PGA though.

10/28/2008 8:59:46 PM

The photo is the main building at the Wolfsburgh VW factory, where "Dr." Ferdinand Porsche(honorary degree, little formal education) and his son Ferdinand 'Ferry' Porsche worked closely with the Schustaffel to oversee an army of slaves in the construction of Beetles and war machinery before and during the war.

While Ferry claimed to be apolitical, his father joined the Nazi party in 1937 and both certainly reaped the rewards and honors of being in Hitler's personal circle. Hitler himself may have penned the body shape, but the idea of a small, affordable car had long been the dream of Porsche, and it seems he had no reservations about using the Third Reich to realize his ambitions, despite the obviously wretched treatment of Soviets, Jews, POWs, women and children in his own factories.

After the war, Ferdinand, Ferry and Ferdinand's son-in-law Anton Piech were all arrested for war crimes as the Allies seized the factories. The family could only afford to bribe for Ferry's release. He quickly formed the Porsche brand and used the initial proceeds from the Porsche 356 sports car design to bribe/bail his father's release from jail after 2 years. Dr. Ferdinand Porsche died soon thereafter in 1952.

Porsche kept building rear-engine VW-based sports cars(because they couldn't afford to develop their own platform), and Anton Piech's son Ferdinand Piech(grandson of Ferdinand Porsche) started working there in 1963. He would eventually quit Porsche and become CEO of VW, where he still remains Chairman. Ferry Porsche died in 1998, and his son F. A. Porsche now handles the family's fortunes. The Porsche and Piech families together hold the largest stake in Porsche.

So you see, as of this week, the Porsche family has rebuilt the automotive empire that they once controlled under the Nazis. It only took them 60 years.


At least that's my understanding of it. And in case there are any VW-lovers out there that I haven't pissed off yet with this sacrilege, here's a photo of split windows being discarded:

10/28/2008 9:51:01 PM

those are sweet windows!

10/28/2008 10:01:14 PM

^^ Best garage post evar.

Srsly. Cool photos in this thread too.

I just came to see shiny objects, I need to go to bed.

10/28/2008 10:30:53 PM

^^^lol, nice attempt at trying to piss off Porsche fans

10/28/2008 10:37:05 PM

Thanks.

Terrible cars, though. Barely adequate for transportation, atrocious as a sports car platform, saved only by their simplistic reliability and aggressive advertising. I'm glad I'm down to only four now.

10/28/2008 10:37:47 PM

yikes on the nazi stuff. Makes me fahklempt in my gennechctagazoink and my jewbone twitchy. Which could complicate heel-and-toeing since I think that's what we jews have instead of a tibia. Which explains why we can't jump and can't outrun nazis. My grandma would not be happy. Damn. I'm soon to be an asshole-lawyer and I'll need a new PDK 911 carrera targa in white on tan with an every-surface-is-wood-or-leather-or-fake-aluminum interior and either the smallest wheels available or aftermarket turbo-look wheels, to go wit' me' trophy wife.

(btw...I think it's safe to say that spec is the douche-iest 911 model...)

I didn't know the exact details of all of this history, but I thought it was a bit more "at arm's length" than that. Makes the 356 and 550 kits and beetle projects out there a lot less interesting to me, so I guess, "thanks!" for helping me trim my kit car shopping for when I'm out of school. I was already starting to become obsessed with THIS--->http://www.factoryfive.com/hotrodhome.html. Can't wait for sema coverage.

Oh, who am I kidding. beck 550 spyder kit, I didn't mean it. I love you, you 1300 lb soap bar of thrills!

10/29/2008 12:36:17 PM

i rode by the wolfsburg factory when i was in germany...when i saw we were in wolfsburg and there was a massive plant that literally made up the majority of the town, i finally realized why there were "wolfsburg edition" VWs

10/29/2008 12:39:18 PM

why do you think that you'll piss off "vw-lovers" with a little history? as if hitler's hand in the creation of VW was some big secret.

but that pile of split windows makes me sad

10/29/2008 1:43:53 PM

^^^I've always been a big fan of their GTM..wish I had built one back when I had time

10/29/2008 6:41:32 PM

maybe you will finally be able to get a VW with some balls besides an audi that costs over $100k

10/29/2008 7:12:51 PM

^x4 You're the reason they make Jaguars. They even make Jag roadster kits based on VW's, but I guess that defeats the purpose. Don't get me wrong, I love VW's kits, they're cheap and easy and very satisfying to build. Just don't expect speed. You can drop $thousands on an air-cooled engine and still have a car that can barely get out of its own way. I've been looking into building some sort of Locost, personally, probably for strictly off-road use.

Quote :

"at arm's length"

This is the argument I've always heard from airheads. "But smc," they'll say, "what choice did Porsche have but to participate in the Nazi war machine?" I would argue that everyone had a choice, especially Porsche. He was one of the wealthiest and most influential businessmen in Europe and had already traveled to the United States, defection was certainly a possibility. But in Hitler he recognized he had a great ally, a leader who in fact crushed attempts by other German car makers to build (better) cars that would compete with his pet project.

I don't know, the whole deal just rubs me the wrong way. Maybe I'm just pissed because I have German rust in my eyes right now. On the plus side, I beat my own record this evening and can now completely disassemble a Beetle in under an hour.

10/29/2008 7:22:43 PM

I dont remember the story going that way.

10/29/2008 9:51:01 PM

Quote :

"Thanks. Terrible cars, though. Barely adequate for transportation, atrocious as a sports car platform, saved only by their simplistic reliability and aggressive advertising. I'm glad I'm down to only four now."

If you're referring to the 911 you've lost all credibility.

10/29/2008 11:41:43 PM

damn pat! he means the type 1.

10/30/2008 7:29:22 AM

why would the nazi post piss anyone off? Is there something wrong with history that we have to hide it? It sure worked out well for Porsche...they're really sweet ass cars. (most)

10/30/2008 12:53:59 PM