It was only a matter of time and merger news has finally arrived. The Volkswagen Group, the largest automotive group in Europe, and manufacturer of sports cars Porsche, agreed yesterday during a meeting in Wolfsburg, the integration of both companies into one “automotive consortium.”
At the head of the company shall be the chairman of Volkswagen, Martin Winterkorn, who combines his role with the CEO of Porsche. However, Lower Saxony, which holds 20% stake in Volkswagen, reserves the right to veto that, and the possibility of electing two members of the supervisory board of the group. For this, the Porsche supervisory board met prior to dismissing its chief executive, Wendelin Wiedeking, who opposed the agreement.
In principle, Porsche will remain a separate brand and will continue to be headquartered in Stuttgart, but will be integrated into Europe’s largest automotive group along with the brands Volkswagen, Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles, Seat, Skoda, Audi, Bugatti, Lamborghini, Bentley and Scania. The consortium will take shape by 2011 in stages.
