>//from the news wires//
>FRANKFURT (Reuters) - German luxury carmaker Porsche ... has secured a
>further 8.27 percent stake in Volkswagen ..., making it VW's largest
>shareholder once the transaction is completed before the end of October.
>Together with its current interest of 10.26 percent, the Stuttgart-based
>firm would control 18.53 percent of Europe's largest carmaker, Porsche said
>on Friday.
>It added that it has hedged against a rising stock price for VW and could
>acquire another 3.4 percent over the market. The purchase would not give
>Porche a bigger say because VW caps any shareholder's voting rights at 20
>percent.

I must say I am surprised that Porsche could afford to do this... but
perhaps it couldn't afford NOT to? Did it take out a loan in order to
do so? Porsche may have really stretched its finances to the breaking
point to do this.

>Nevertheless, it could help Porsche secure three of the 20 seats on VW's
>supervisory board, chaired by Ferdinand Piech.
>This would give it a heavier weight on the board than the German state of
>Lower Saxony, which controls 18.2 percent of VW voting rights.
>Porsche, part owned by Piech, had recently stated its intention to take a 19
>percent voting rights stake in Volkswagen.
>The maker of high-performance sports cars such as the 911 Carrera coupe also
>said that the German federal cartel office had approved Porsche's plans to
>acquire the stake.///
>jimt

Well, it is possible that this could mean a very good thing to
enthusiasts. As we all know, Porsche is dedicated to rear-engined
vehicles (including rear-midengined like the Boxster). Could this
mean putting pressure on VW management to return to this wonderful
layout??
--
Regards
Andrew