Call to speed up Porsche integration

VW, Europe’s largest car maker, is keen to buy the remaining half of sportscar maker Porsche that it does not already own, but it can only do so without incurring taxes of as much as 1.5 billion euros if it waits until August 2014.

“It’s not in the interest of any of the parties to wait that long, neither the companies nor the tax authorities,” Martin Winterkorn said yesterday, speaking at Porsche Holding SE’s annual shareholder conference in Stuttgart in his capacity as chief executive of the investment vehicle.

He is also CEO of Volkswagen.

VW, which acquired 49.9 per cent of the Stuttgart-based car maker in December 2009 following a botched attempt by Porsche to take control of its much bigger competitor, has for months been exploring ways to fold the remainder of Porsche into its multi-brand structure.

“All parties concerned would benefit from a swift combination of Volkswagen and Porsche,” said Mr Winterkorn. “We want to complete the integrated automotive group at viable conditions as quickly as possible.”

Porsche and VW agreed a merger in August 2009 after the maker of the iconic 911 sports car racked up more than 10 billion euros (£8.05bn) of debt attempting to buy VW. Porsche’s holding company still shoulders about 1.5 billion euros of debt.

VW abandoned the merger last September, citing unquantifiable legal risks.