Porsche Investigated for Unfair Trading

Daniel Cooper · 02-25-2011, 05:51 PM

How come nobody on the forum is talking about this ? Could kill the VW deal--and leave Porsche in a lurch.

Danny_Ocean · 02-25-2011, 06:04 PM

Because this is the Technical Forum.

(And, anything that happens to Porsche today won't affect my 30+ year old car, so no real concern).

Joe Bob · Joe Bob's Garage

Ditto......

Danny_Ocean · 02-25-2011, 06:20 PM

Porsche (the company) no longer existed to me the moment they started pouring water into their engines.

80-911SC · 80-911SC's Garage

Harsh but true .... agree with the above .........

Wil Ferch · 02-26-2011, 06:07 AM

Their recent ( ~ last 10-20 years) focus and acrtions speak to them being a financial, big-time industrial conglomerate...and not the purveyors of fast, well-built, quirky sports cars of yore.....

dicklague · dicklague's Garage

At least they are still around......sad, but emission laws, safety laws and more laws forced the changes. And they certainly have to run it as a modern business. Name of the game is to make profit to pay people and pay whoever owns it back for their bother.

Too bad they had to get greedy and try to take over VW.

I enjoy my air-cooled 911 and have no desire for a new one.

rusnak · 02-26-2011, 07:06 AM

It was Wendeling Weaselking wot did it.

Dottore · 02-26-2011, 08:38 AM

I posted a summary of the claims against Porsche on this board about a year ago—but can't remember the thread.

The tragedy of course is that this is a US law suit with US plaintiffs. And that there are celebrity lawyers, media and hedge fund plaintiffs with deep pockets. It will be a zoo and a crap shoot, and the outcome will have little to do with justice—and everything to do with theater.

The really sad thing (I think) is that this kind of non-sense may now well decide the fate of Porsche. The brand deserves better.

The view from Germany (where I now live) is that Wiedeking played by the rules—and checked each move on the chess board (the complex events leading up to the attempted VW takeover) with the best possible lawyers and advisors. In Europe this law suit would not be heard. But in America it might, and it might even succeed or saddle Porsche with such an enormous settlement obligation (vis a vis the hedge fund managers) that VW will cut Porsche loose rather than assume this liability.

Maybe it's down to Wiedeking's hubris. But for anyone who loves the brand and has breathed the air down in Zuffenhausen this is all very sad and tawdry.

rusnak · 02-26-2011, 09:06 AM

Dottore, you are talking about the guy who ran Porsche into a ditch with the failed attempt to buy VW, tried then to sell Porsche control to the royal family in Quatar, then got fired when VW basically bailed out the Porsche family by buying Porsche. The company ran out of cash, and this was a company that had piles and piles of cash to start with. The company was very close to being broken up and parted out.

Now that Porsche has been "saved" and kept as a whole company, they are going ahead with the launch a second SUV, started at least three years ago, called the "Cajun", along with a new factory, several new models every few years that in my opinion will totally eradicate any of the old glory that was Porsche - which was at one time a very conservative, resourceful, focused company that built small numbers of cars. The tragic part of this story is the change that has been going on for some time within Porsche, including the managerial follies that seem to plague the company. They seem to get a case of thinking too big, and that's when they get into trouble. It would be a good thing if it turns out that Porsche focuses on building advanced high quality sports cars again, but somehow I don't think that's going to happen. I think they are led by hubris, even now.

It's true that Porsche was in trouble in the late 80s, and that the Boxter et al allowed Porsche to make a comeback. But all that was for naught, and Porsche almost was bought by a VC consortium a few years ago. Wendeling should have simply stuck with making cars, not venturing into the VC market. Porsche is the world's most profitable car company, and there is no way VW will simply let it go. This lawsuit that you mention is like a tick on a dog's back. It will be dealt with, and life at Porsche will go on, and old memories will fade.

Dottore · 02-26-2011, 11:16 AM

I agree with almost all you say. Wiedeking lost the plot fairly quickly. Old story. Smart guy. Success went to his head. Next stop meglomania. His attempted takeover of VW is a good example of just how far he had lost it.

When I say Wiedeking "played by the rules" I refer strictly to the matters that are the subject of the current lawsuit—namely the allegations of market manipulation. From what I read here, he's squeaky clean on that score—but dodgy courts and dodgy law may make this a moot point.

I disagree that the lawsuit is small beer for VW. I gather the principal reason the merger has not been finalized is that the VW guys want to be in a position to reneg on (or renegotiate) the deal if the potential liabilities from this lawsuit appear too large.