Thursday 9th December 2010

Porsche Wins Bid To Develop Sports Cars For VW

VW likes Audi, and it likes Porsche. But which is better...?

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VW CEO Martin Winterkorn has told Porsche that it has 'won' the right to develop the top-end sports cars and luxury saloons for the VW group.

There's nothing like a bit of in-house rivalry to keep the various brands of your giant automotive empire on their toes. Nobody knows this better than VW, which has for the past few months been pitching Audi against Porsche in a Harry Hill-esque battle to take the development lead for the group's high-end models.

The announcement is obviously a blow to Audi, but quite a fillip for Porsche, and will calm concerns within the Porsche ranks that the brand could get a little lost as it becomes the 10th brand to be subsumed within the VW empire.

What it also means is that Porsche will take responsibility for the platform that will underpin the Panamera and future Bentleys (known as the 'modular standard matrix'), as well as a platform for future front-mid and rear-mid-engined models for itself, Audi and Lamborghini.

Audi will continue to take the lead on the 'modular longitudinal matrix' that forms the basis for the Q5, A5 and A4, among others.

[rocketride]

So if you buy a Lambo its actualy a Porsche? WTF? Thats just wrong! This part sharing is getting out of hand!

Edited by rocketride on Thursday 9th December 11:30

[nickfrog]

Don't buy one then.

[hornetrider]

At this rate they'll all be owned by Tesco in 20 years anyway

[williamp]

not since every time in history has porscge agreed to develop and build sports cars for vw, 914, 924 etc etc

[kambites]

If Porsche are simply to become the sportscar arm of VW (with Lambo remaining the supercar arm?) they might stop building Porsche SUVs and leave that to Audi and VW as the Luxury/volume car brands? I would have thought that would make more sense from a brand coherency point of view?

Maybe that's too sensible, though.

[10 Pence Short]

The Crack Fox said:

A minor squabble amongst siblings in the VAG family then, the story is a non-story, in a nutshell "Audi to continue flogging standard VW platform share fodder with posh badge to reps while Porsche continue to make Sportscars and the occasional fugly SUV"....

It's a nonsense, isn't it.

It's also a shame, as the consumer loses out. On one hand, people might look and say "yeah, but VAG allowed people to buy a high quality Skoda or SEAT", on the other, I would say the motoring world has lost out on individualism and creativity.

Tesco might offer a convenient place to shop with a huge range of products and services- but I don't want that to be at the expense of choice. VAG are slowly but surely swallowing up brands and removing choice (and character).

[Clivey]

kambites said:

If Porsche are simply to become the sportscar arm of VW (with Lambo remaining the supercar arm?) they might stop building Porsche SUVs and leave that to Audi and VW as the Luxury/volume car brands? I would have thought that would make more sense from a brand coherency point of view?

Maybe that's too sensible, though.

Hopefully not!

[ludicrous speed]

hornetrider said:

At this rate they'll all be owned by Tesco in 20 years anyway

Looking forward to the Tesco Value GT3! Can't wait!

[kambites]

ludicrous speed said:

hornetrider said:

At this rate they'll all be owned by Tesco in 20 years anyway

Looking forward to the Tesco Value GT3! Can't wait!

Except it'd have a 5bhp single cylinder engine, no suspension and no brakes.

[Animala]

Article said:

VW likes Audi, and it likes Porsche. But which is better...?

There's only one to find out.......

[Hugo a Gogo]

afaik, all Volkswagen group factories have to bid against each other to build their products, they are all separate companies

probably works the same for design in that case

[ludicrous speed]

kambites said:

ludicrous speed said:

hornetrider said:

At this rate they'll all be owned by Tesco in 20 years anyway

Looking forward to the Tesco Value GT3! Can't wait!

Except it'd have a 5bhp single cylinder engine, no suspension and no brakes.

The blue and white stripes make it faster though... and they look pretty good

[zakelwe]

kambites said:

ludicrous speed said:

hornetrider said:

At this rate they'll all be owned by Tesco in 20 years anyway

Looking forward to the Tesco Value GT3! Can't wait!

Except it'd have a 5bhp single cylinder engine, no suspension and no brakes.

But worlds largest boot for shopping to fit into.

Imagine the spec levels, top of the Range is the Tesco 2.0 Finest.

Andy

[Dr G]

That's fine as long as the Audi Porsches have Audi interiors

[goron59]

Future 911 vs R8 should be interesting then.

What happens to quattro (the company) ?

Is the RS4 the last decent RS ?

Hopefully VW can stop messing around with R versions and stick to boring shopping trollies.

[dirty doug]

Animala said:

Article said:

VW likes Audi, and it likes Porsche. But which is better...?

There's only one to find out.......

Fight!

[Roberty]

rocketride said:

So if you buy a Lambo its actualy a Porsche? WTF? Thats just wrong! This part sharing is getting out of hand!

Edited by rocketride on Thursday 9th December 11:30

These cars would be even more expensive if they didn't!

[Fury1630]

IMHO any car company that refers to a chassis / floorplan as a "modular longitudinal matrix" has lost the plot entirely.

[OlberJ]

ludicrous speed said:

hornetrider said:

At this rate they'll all be owned by Tesco in 20 years anyway

Looking forward to the Tesco Value GT3! Can't wait!

Good news for the Bluemotion concept, maybe it will look like a 918 after all!

Edited by OlberJ on Thursday 9th December 12:46

[robinessex]

Can anyone tell me why Germany has VW, BMW, Audi, Porsche, Mercedes, AMG, Alpina, (Bentley, RR, Audi, Mini), and the UK has Morgan, Bristol and Caterham, plus lots of kit cars ?