Porsche Places Bid For Volkswagen

[vortex]

More... (http://www.vwvortex.com/artman/publish/volkswagen_news/article_2002.shtml)

[DSV]

I wonder what this could mean for VW? I'm not sure that they want to buy the company, but at least control a portion of the company? Too much financial jibber jabber for me, lol... :laugh:

[twooly]

Interesting

[Sinan]

This sucks. I'd rather have VW own Porsche.

[lreven]

I'm not sure what if any change we'd see. I think it's more of a controlling interest move than a "purchase".

VW has made some supid decisions in the past several years and their stock has suffered for it. IF they have sizable cash reserves (Cash Cow) and their stock is down, it's a good buy if Porche wants access to cash.

They lost track of the "Image" of the VW nameplate. In most marketing surveys, VW is still in the top twenty most recognized brands worldwide.

Stupid marketing moves:

Phaeton - Come on - should have been an audi if it happened at all. They totally ignored the marketing concept of "segmentation". The Phaeton owners I know are almost as tight as a cult but I guess if I has dropped $100+ on a VW I'd feel a little defensive too!
Toureg - poorly positioned against competition. Should have come out with a smaller less expensive offering to compete on the lower end (Hyundai Santa Fe for instance)
W8 - I own one but I paid $23k for it with 18k miles and had certification thrown into the deal. The sticker was near $40k? dumb dumb. I'd be looking to BMW/Audi in that range.

Price ranges are just one aspect, the "Dealers" are another. I've been more "pampered" at the BMW/VW dealer in KC than the typical Ford/VW dealer.

They had things rolling in the late 90's and '00 and '01 and then got full of themselves and lost their way. Shareholders are unforgiving. :td:

Hopefully VW cleans house and gets their act together before someone does purchase them because I'm still a fan of most of their stuff and having logged almost a million miles in VW's. I like them!:tu:

There are signs of intelligence again with the 3 VW's for under $17k ads...time will tell.:)

[sam]

Yup this is why :(

Top EU court finds against VW law

VW is Europe's biggest car maker
A German law that protects Volkswagen from takeovers breaks European Union rules, a top court official has found.
The advocate general, one of the eight on the European Court of Justice, said the so-called "Volkswagen Law" wrongly prevented the free flow of capital.

Under the law, any shareholder in the carmaker cannot exercise more than 20% of the firm's voting rights, regardless of their level of stock holding.

The initial finding is expected to become the court's final ruling.

This is due within four to six months time.

Although the initial opinion is not binding, the European Court of Justice backs an advocate general's initial findings in about 80% of cases.

State control

The Volkswagen Law was put into place when the carmaker was privatised in the 1960s.

It allowed VW's home region, the state of Lower Saxony, and the federal German government to prevent the risk of foreign takeover and continue to have a say in any politically sensitive decisions, such as job losses.

Today, Lower Saxony continues to own a 20.8% stake in the firm, which also gives it two seats on VW's important supervisory board.

Advocate General Damaso Ruiz-Jarabo said in his ruling that the current German legislation wrongly "strengthens the position of the Federal Government and the Land of Lower Saxony, preventing any intervention in the management of the firm".

VW has declined to comment on the interim court judgement, but its largest shareholder, fellow carmaker Porsche, which owns a 27.4% share, said it welcomed the ruling.

Analysts were divided on whether Porsche might launch a full takeover move on VW if and when the full Court of Justice finds against the Volkswagen law.

The European Commission first complained about the legislation in 2004.

VW shares rose nearly 1% after the ruling was announced