Say goodbye to the R8

[mfsc]

Porsche just announced that they control 75% of Vow and they will seek a domination agreement. This means that they have essentially taken Vow over and thus taken over Audi as well. We all know the first thing they will do is kill the R8 so get one while you can… they might be worth less in two years but they will be worth more in 20…

[kthacher]

What is a domination agreement? (in business, not in interpersonal relationships ) You are speculating right? Or is there something concrete we can read about their plans for the R8.

[randombloke]

I'm really not convinced porsche would pull the plug on the r8 - the r8 is a halo car for the entire brand.

[kthacher]

I agree on the halo comment. Just yesterday I had two BMW owners in a single parking lot openly expressing all kinds of enthusiasm and admiration for the R8. Over-the-top positive. A couple of days ago, a guy in a 540 was thumbs-upping me after seeing the R8. Prior to the R8, how many BMW owners would react this way to an Audi? How many of them will now check out the whole line before they buy their next car, that would never have given Audi a chance prior to the R8? I think it would be hugely shortsighted of Porsche to make such a decision.

[randombloke]

The rs4 was the first car that caused me to cast my eyes beyond bimmerland and give serious consideration to audis offerings.

The r8 is a big step up in terms of getting interest to the brand and it seems quite a few people who had m6's have moved on to r8's.

[R84ME]

No worries mates - the R8 will be re-badged as a Porsche and will wear it well!

[R8 England]

MFSC, not so fast.

The state of Lower Saxony {i.e. Local Government} controls 20% or so of VW, and the unions are fighting tooth and nail. In Germany, they have a say as to how things are run. Also, the so-called VW law in Germany gives special legal status to VW, who board have been trying to sabotage the takeover.

Did you know that the bosses of Porsche and VW are actually cousins ?
Also, Porsche has 12,000 employees, and VW has 324,000.

The politics of the two companies is very complex, and takeover does not mean capitulation.

Lets not panic yet. And even if the bastards do take over, it does not mean that they will automatically kill the R8.

And what of Lambo, do you suggest that they will kill that as well ?

No, of course not.

By the way, where do you get your information from ?

[R8 England]

I have found the story you are looking at:

http://www.loveworldchristiannetwork...aGM5&cate=ZWNv

But see also BBC news:-

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7691940.stm

As you can see, the actual equity stake is 42.6 %. They do not own 75 % !!!!

Share options are just that. Options. Until they actually pay for them there are no share associated rights.

[Teutonic_Tamer]

And what, exactly is "Vow"? I don't recognise any company asscociated with Volkswagen, Audi or Porsche with that designation.

Just for clairity, the correct name for the parent/holding company is known as "Volkswagen AG" in its fatherland (and correctly abbreviated to "VW AG"), and is officially translated into English language as "Volkswagen Group".

And the "VAG" acronym is no longer an official tag, though it is still commonly accepted as an informal tag.


As others have stated, Porsche do NOT have any powers to actually kill off any Audi, or other Volkswagen Group car - and I seriously doubt they would want to either. Porsche will simply work with Audi and the other marques as a "technical partner", in exactly the same way as they do with the current Porsche Cayenne, Audi Q7, and VW Touareg - which are all fundamentally an identical car.

[mfsc]

I get my information from bloomberg and vow is the bloomberg ticker for Volkswagen AG... Porsche have options to buy more and have stated that they will do that next year so they willl go to 75% as for Lambo as we all know a Gallardo cost ~twice as much as an R8 or, 911 so not a direct comp. Bimmer killed the M1 a long time ago so a Halo car is not really neeed. With regard to lower saxony and Volkswagen AG workforce there is nothing they can do if European courts decide that the revised Vow law is not valid (as they did with the old one).