The first casualty of the Porsche financial debacle has emerged, and it’s their chief executive Wendelin Wiedeking. Wiedeking was fired this week after the events of recent months where Porsche accrued massive amounts of debt in the failed takeover bid of rival Volkswagen, the largest car maker in Europe.
Wiedeking was instrumental in Porsche’s rejuvenation in the 1990s, but his past accomplishments counted for nothing this week as he left his post after nearly 20 years.
The decision to fire Wiedeking came after Porsche’s advisory board met this week in an all night meeting. They also agreed to allow their new
Archive for the ‘Porsche’ Category
Porsche chief executive fired
Tuesday, July 28th, 2009New Porsche and VW deal close?
Thursday, July 23rd, 2009It appears that the deal between German car giants Porsche and Volkswagen could be close, which would save the former from potential bankruptcy. The rival factions in control of the two carmakers are to meet today (on Thursday 23rd July) to discuss a deal that could decide who has control over the eventual company that emerges.
The contentious ownership wrangle has split the owners of Porsche down the middle.
The two companies will get together to discuss their future, with one of the roadblocks on the horizon being the tax liability that would be faced by the two merging. Should Porsche
Three thousand advance orders for new Porsche Panamera
Monday, July 20th, 2009If you saw Top Gear last weekend you’d have witnessed the new four-door Porsche Panamera. The team raced the new Porsche against the Royal Mail. The new Porsche is causing a lot of excitement among lovers of fast cars, and Porsche say that they have nearly 3,000 advance orders for their new car.
The new Porsche Panamera won’t get anywhere near a showroom for another two months, which shows the level of interest they have generated with the four-door car.
One interesting fact that Porsche have revealed in relation to their new model is that somewhere in the region of 80
Porsche people break Guinness world record
Monday, July 13th, 2009A few weeks ago Porsche set out to break a new world record at the Goodwood Festival of Speed. However, unlike most records you would associate with a car manufacturer such as Porsche, this world record had nothing to do with motor racing. No, this world record was for the furthest distance covered by 12 people on treadmills in 48 hours.
The record has stood since April 2008, and was set at 495.76 miles. At the Goodwood Festival of Speed, the Porsche Human Performance Centre beat the record, notching up 539.86 miles in 48 hours. Each runner completed separate stints
Porsche to go green with its best-selling Cayenne
Friday, July 3rd, 2009Porsche may be struggling with its finances at the moment, and scrambling around looking for an investor to save their company, but that hasn’t stopped them looking at the development of the next new Porsche model. That may not be surprising, but what is perhaps surprising is the fact that the new Porsche being developed is a ‘green’ car, something that Porsche isn’t particularly noted for.
Porsche is reported to be looking at a hybrid version of the Porsche Cayenne. This comes after similar announcements from Ferrari and Lamborghini concerning green vehicles.
Perhaps the world’s top car makers realise that there
Porsche to make an electric car?
Thursday, July 2nd, 2009The very notion that a new Porsche should be produced with a diesel engine is enough to turn most petrol heads green with nausea, so imagine how the idea that Porsche could be producing an electric car would be received. It hasn’t stopped the troubled German car manufacturer though, as they’re rumoured to be deep into developments on a new Porsche 911 that runs on electricity.
Jeremy Clarkson will be pleased!
The idea was openly discussed recently by Wolfgang Durheimer from Porsche, even though no specific details were revealed about the project.
Of course, even if Porsche does produce an electric Porsche
Porsche turns down VW offer of a merger
Thursday, July 2nd, 2009The prospect of a new Porsche / Volkswagen super company has been thrown out by the former after VW suggested a merger to save the indebted German car maker. Porsche is currently heavily in debt after it borrowed substantially in order to fund a would-be takeover of VW, a takeover which it is unable to complete.
As a result of the debt, Porsche has approached the German government looking for a loan to bail it out, but the government is expected to turn down Porsche’s request. Also, due to the recession, sales of new Porsche models have been down, further
Porsche attempts world record
Tuesday, June 30th, 2009Porsche holds many records, but on the weekend of July 3rd they’ll be going for a new Porsche record, one that you wouldn’t normally associate with the German car manufacturer. On that weekend, Porsche will be attempting the world record for the greatest distance covered in a 48 hour period by a team of a dozen runners, on treadmills.
Not exactly what you’d expect from the company that brought you the Porsche 911.
The world record attempt, which will be officially observed by representatives of the Guinness Book of World Records, will take place at the Goodwood Festival of Speed. The
Porsche won’t be saved by Daimler insist investors
Thursday, June 25th, 2009Investment bankers and analysts remain sceptical over the proposed move by Daimler to invest in the debt ridden German car company, Porsche. Many investors believe the proposed move, or even just rumours of the move, have been spread to force the hand of the Qatar Investment Authority who have been approached by Porsche with a view to investing €2.5bn in the company.
Daniel Schwarz, an analyst with Commerzbank stated about the proposed Daimler move:
“Based on earlier statements by (Daimler Chief Executive Dieter) Zetsche and the pressure on Porsche to find fresh equity, we see an agreement with Qatar as more
German government to say No to Porsche
Wednesday, June 24th, 2009German luxury car manufacturer Porsche is in deep financial trouble. So much trouble in fact that Porsche recently approached the German government, in a move reminiscent of British banks, looking for a loan to help them stay afloat. Porsche asked for a loan of €1.75bn, which it needs to stay afloat after its failed attempt to take over Volkswagen.
According to reports however, the German government isn’t quite such a soft touch as the UK government, and is ready to refuse Porsche the loan that it needs.
The state owned bank KfW spoke with the German government and advised them against