[onewhippedpuppy]

Originally Posted by Dottore

Not sure why you say this.

The management is, I'm sure, very much aware of the value of its brands and will see that that value is enhanced over time. There has always been a deep technical cooperation and cross shareholding between VW and Porsche. Currently Porsche owns 51% of VW—which is a rather absurd situation on some level.

Porsche and VW management have for some time engaged in all kinds of bickering that has been detrimental to the cooperation between them.

The merger should allow for a much better cooperation between them in future.

Look at Ferrari. Fiat is the best thing that ever happened to them.

What happens when you have multiple "house" brands that are all competing within the same market segment? Audi, Porsche, and Lamborghini could all potentially step on each other's toes. It makes very little sense to compete against yourself, just ask GM.

Fiat doesn't own another brand that directly competes with Ferrari. Alfa is the only one close, but their only performance car (8C) does not compete with any of Ferrari's products. Also don't forget the Ferrari was failing financially. Porsche is (was) a very profitable independent company.