Porsche boss Wendelin Wiedeking has launched a scathing attack on British corporate financiers who opposed the German sportscar maker’s purchase of a dominant shareholding in Volkswagen.
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“Some major funds had already started to kick around Volkswagen and they have been thwarted,” Weideking told a gathering of industry leaders at the annual awards ceremony for Autocar magazine last week.
“With the money markets, including hedge funds here in the City of London, looking at raiding Volkswagen, this industrial company would have had no future,” he said.
“It is a fact that they are not very happy because the Porsche acquisition of a share in Volkswagen has denied them the opportunity to make big bonuses,” added Weideking.
Critics believe that the family ties of the Piech family, who have influence in both Porsche and Volkswagen, have created a deal with a poor financial return.
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By GlobalDataBut Wiedeking said the main reason for taking the stake was to safeguard one of Porsche’s main suppliers as well as ensuring that 40 years of co-operation between the two companies will continue.
“VW is one of our main suppliers,” said Wiedeking, “supplying one third of our model range.”
VW supplies the core structure and body panels of the Cayenne SUV, which is shared with the VW Touareg. Today the Cayenne is Porsche’s best-selling model, out-selling the evergreen 911.
Julian Rendell
