VOLKSWAGEN COMPLETES PORSCHE TAKE-OVER

Can you believe it! The tables have turned once again as Volkswagen announces that it’s buying the remaining 50.1% of Porsche SE that it does not already own for €4.46 billion (R45 billion). This effectively means Porsche will, from 01 August 2012, become a fully-owned subsidiary of Volkswagen. It will join other VW brands Audi, Bentley, Bugatti, Lamborghini, Seat, Skoda, MAN trucks, Scania trucks and Ducati bikes. Of course VW brand itself is also owned by VW.

And it may not be over, as chairman Ferdinand Piech is a major fan of the Alfa Romeo brand that’s owned by Fiat of Italy. Once he told journalists that VW is a patient company that will one day take its opportunity and buy Alfa.

The move to finally pounce on Porsche will put an end to seven years of internal squabbles that saw Porsche first attempting (and nearly succeeding I might add), to buy much bigger Volkswagen. Unfortunately those plans were thwarted by the 2008 financial crisis that saw Porsche nearly go bust. VW then set in motion events to in turn, buy Porsche, which has culminated in todays’ announcement.

Volkswagen made a profit of €11.3 billion (R113.8 billion) in 2011, making it by far the most profitable car maker in the world. On the same year it overtook Toyota to the number two spot in terms of the number of cars it sold globally. Now it has set its sights on General Motors. By 2015, VW aims to dethrone GM as the world’s biggest seller of cars.