>  >From a news release
>
>BERLIN Sep 25, 2005 - Luxury sports car maker Porsche AG said Sunday it
>plans to acquire a stake of about 20 percent in Volkswagen AG, a move aimed
>at strengthening ties between the automakers and preventing a future hostile
>takeover of Volkswagen.

No way would Porsche have the funds.

>Porsche said Volkswagen has become "a significant supplier for about 30
>percent of our sales volume" as well as "an important partner in
>development."
>The two companies worked together to develop Porsche's Cayenne sport utility
>vehicle and Volkswagen's Touareg. They recently announced that they, along
>with Audi AG, were forming an alliance to develop hybrid engines.

Audi is a wholly-owned subsidiary of VW, not an independent company.

>Looks like 60 years of partnership on the side to become partners
>officially.  Is this like living together for 60 years and then deciding to
>get married??
>
>  >From another article the purchase will involve Porsche doing it as a stock
>purchase with 4 billion in cash.
>
>jimt

>Wouldn't that more accurately be seen as a move to reduce the
>likelihood of a hostile takeover of Porsche?  I think VW is the fifth
>largest automaker on the planet, with facilities all over, and Porsche
>is somewhere near the bottom of the pack in terms of size and
>geographic scope...but, what do I know?  I believe Porsche is the most
>profitable automaker though, so maybe they're on to something.

Toyota is by far and away the most profitable. Reliability really does sell.

>One of the reasons given by Porsche actually is to block any take over of VW
>from outside of the unofficial partnerships.

I would not be surprised if Toyota was thinking 
of an outright buyout. Heck... could there be 
such a thing as a RELIABLE watercooled VW in the 
future?

>  This has become a strained
>position because some members of the european union have and are filing
>national level law suits over the protection of ownership of VW stock
>(currently protected under German law as to who can own how much outside of
>the Wolfsburg rules).  They are claiming this gives VW protected and favored
>status over other euro union members.  Porsche purchase would still leave
>the brands and corporations separate (required legal point under euro rules)
>but would also ensure and protect the long VW Porsche partnership and keep
>anyone from outside of the group (basically mercedes, vw, and porsche) from
>getting inside control. The majority stock control would then still be under
>Wolfsburg controls and neutralize the european union law suits  Wonder how
>many people outside of europe realize just how much these three competitors
>actually work on joint projects borrowing each others technologies and even
>parts in each others plants.  Personally I think it is the unofficial three
>company mfr alliance that the other members of the european union are trying
>to break up.
>>
>>European and Asian Governments work with their manufacturers to keep jobs
>>in their countries and assure the success of both the companies and the
>>full  employment of their citizens. Even the French understand the
>>concept.
>
>Yea, it works so well, in Germany & France, that they have double digit
>unemployment.

Yep... used to keep awful manufacturers like 
Peugeot (& its Citr�en subsidiary) twitching...