VW will finally buy the remaining 50.1% of Porsche that they do not own already by 8/1/2012 according to James Healey (USA Today). What do you think? Will it be the end of the marque, the beginning of something good for Porsche lovers, or business as usual?
I very much doubt there will be much change, perhaps to create some shared models at the lower end. They wouldn’t spend $5.5 Billion to just let it fade out. And VW’s head, Piech, is Ferdinand Porsche’s grandson. And VW’s been sharing stuff with Porsche for many years.
My feeling is that it will be business as usual other than the corporate boardroom and the consumer will never know the difference.
I don’t think that VW has shared much hardware, even though it may have been mad in the same plant. I heard that when I owned a 914, but there were no interchangeable parts.
I think that Porsches will remain the fine sportscars that they have been, too. Bentley and Lamborghini are still in good shape, and Audi got a boost from the 5.2L V10 Lambo power plant in the R8. Did I win the Lotto yet? Oh well… fun to dream.
Gee…The VW Touareg and the Porsche Cayenne share a platform…Not like they are completely separate entities now.
@doubleclutch - yes, and before that it was the 924, which originally was going to be a VW and used a VW/Audi engine. And the 914-4 did have VW engines, just not Beetle engines. From wiki:
"Volkswagen versions originally featured an 80 hp (60 kW) fuel-injected 1.7 L flat-4 engine based on the Volkswagen air-cooled engine…Karmann manufactured the rolling chassis at their plant, completing Volkswagen production in-house or delivering versions to Porsche for their final assembly.
…A Volkswagen-Porsche joint venture, Volkswagen of America, handled export to the U.S., where both versions were badged and sold as Porsches. The four-cylinder cars were sold as Volkswagen-Porsches at European Volkswagen dealerships.
Slow sales and rising costs prompted Porsche to discontinue the 914/6 variant in 1972 after producing 3,351 of them; its place in the lineup was filled by a variant powered by a new 95 hp (71 kW) 2.0 L, fuel-injected version of Volkswagen’s Type 4 engine in 1973. For 1974, the 1.7 L engine was replaced by a 76 hp (57 kW) 1.8 L, and the new Bosch L-Jetronic fuel injection system was added to American units to help with emissions control."
From the title I thought you were saying no new limited special edition Porsches were coming out next month. That would have been unprecedented.
Agree; there will be little change. It’s all part of VW’s plan to become the world’s largest car maker. They now have the whole waterfront covered with Bentley at the top and the VW Polo at the bottom. Sharing design and research will really pay off in cost savings.
Yeah. There is no way in hell VW is going to kill off the Porsche brand. That would be. . Just insane.
What we have to hope is that VW buys it and then tells them “Keep doin’ what you’ve been doin’, and pretend I’m not here.” If they start meddling with the company we’ll end up with another Daimler Benz.
Well, since Ferdinand Porsche designed the original “people’s car” (Volkswagen), the two have a long and intertwined history since day one, and I’m guessing Porsch and VW have a long healthy future together as well. They’re from the same gene pool…literally.
It ain’t like Chrysler and Daimler…
I’m thinking specifically of electrical and other reliability issues that VW has been plagued with that don’t seem to rear their heads in the Porsche lineup. The hope is that VW doesn’t start demanding cheaper parts for the Porsches in order to bump the profit margin for a few quarters.
I agree Shadow. That would be a sad period in a proud Porsche history.
My impression of the original post was that JT was soliciting opinions on whether VW would morph porsche into a VW lineup or keep their heritage alive. I’m guessing they’ll keep Porsche alive as a seperate entity. I hope I’m right. I’ve appreciated Porsche sinch the first time I saw a 912…long, long ago.
That was my intention, mountainbike. VW hasn’t reduced Lamborghini to a mass production model. Audi continues to offer uber-high end cars: TT-RS, R8, A8, S7, and S8. Bentley has a great success in the Continental line. I’d like to see a Mulsanne Coupe or the return of the Brooklands, but I suppose a starting price of $285,000 offers some room for custom coachwork without raising the price too much. What’s another $50,000-$75,000 in this price range, after all?
I think none of this would have happened if Porsche hadn’t tried to take over VW a couple of years back.