Effective this month, Volkswagen Group has completed its ownership of Porsche, paying 3.9 billion Euros for a 49.9 stake in the sports car manufacturer.
Porsche now joins Audi, Skoda, Seat, Bentley and Bugatti as a Volkswagen Group company.
With an annual return on sales of 10.3 per cent, Porsche is the world's most profitable automobile manufacturer and Volkswagen expects future profits from its new company of around 700 million Euros per year.
It's a fascinating alignment between two German icons and the impact on future products will be scrutinized closely by the global automotive industry.
The potential for shared technologies such as powertrains and chassis is enormous (already the Porsche Cayenne is a development of the Volkswagen Touareg) and will allow the Volkswagen Group to make further inroads into the premium segment.
