Me:
You:
Posted on 05/25/2009 5:21:46 PM PDT by bruinbirdman
German car maker Porsche is struggling to raise €1.75bn (£1.54bn) to cover debts and unwind derivative positions stemming from its botched attempt to take over vastly-bigger Volkswagen.
Porsche's shares fell 3.1pc in Frankfurt on Monday after it emerged that the company had obtained a €700m loan from Volkswagen as long ago as March. A Porsche spokesman said the group is negotiating bridging finance with a variety of banks, including the state lender KfW.
It is understood that Porsche is also in talks with the Bank of Tokyo for a €750m loan, and is seeking help from the regional government of Baden-Wurttemberg.
The crisis is yet another headache for the German authorities as they put together a rescue deal this week for Opel, most likely with Fiat. Separately, the hotel and retail group Arcandor said it faced collapse without a €650m state bail-out. Arcandor's share price fell 20pc. The company owns the Karstadt department stores, Quelle, and Thomas Cook. It employs 50,000 workers.
Porsche acquired a 51pc share of VW earlier this year after a series of derivatives deals that tripled Porsche's debt to €9bn.
The takeover bid went badly wrong, forcing Porsche chief Ferdinand Piech to press instead for a merger of the two car makers on increasingly less favourable terms.
Porsche's travails are largely due to financial acrobatics, not falling sales.
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
Part of the problem is that cars nowadays have limits so very high that you can be a pitifully bad driver and still go faster than most great drivers could in real race cars only 15 or 20 years ago... there is no real difference on the street , in terms of usable speed, between a GTI and a Carrera4....
Porsche and VW/Audi do share platforms ...
The bug/356/912/earliest 911’s
The “Porsche” 914 was VW all the way and badged VW in Europe
The 924/944/931/968 was built by Audi and the 924/931 was Audi powered
The Touareg/Cayenne/Q7 are triplets (and Audi’s Q7 with the “LeMans” diesel 10 is far superior to any Cayenne)
I have raced rear engined air cooled 6cylinder 2 door sports cars (Corvair) and I find any 911 after the 1980’s to be seriously lacking in the fun factor area ,, fast ?? YOU BETCHA! but you don’t have that “you gotta stay in it or the A008r’s will come unglued out back” edginess.
Porsche needs to build a cheap fun car ... think lightweight and rear drive with no options or roof... something to compete with a S2000 at the same price point.
You are correct. There’s no comparison.
They are about $60,000 more expensive.
(Sorry! I’m afflicted with uncontrolled hyperbole.)
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Thanks for the pingeroo potlatch
Fritz had big eyes
And a small wallet
All I know about cars is getting in and driving one, lol, but I know how you like them.
That’s fine but comparing them to VW is like a chevette to a Corvette..
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Your analogy is seriously flawed ,, at the time that Chevettes were in production their build quality far exceeded that of the Corvette.
I’d put a GTI VR32 against a BoxsterS on any road course.
A Corvette Z06 would kill anything Porsche makes including the GT2/GT3 “club racer” models, and it would do it with the A/C on and no factory options removed for weight savings.
From the latter link:
"So you thought Porsche financed the VW takeover by foisting overpriced floormats and trucks on their well-heeled buyers? Yesterday’s issue of Die Welt, Germany’s conservative newspaper, thinks different. They undug the dirt on Porsche’s takeover-machinations of Volkswagen. It’s a story that makes Cerberus look like a frisky puppy. It’s an account that makes banks and hedge funds look like morons....."
By the way, I like Niedermeyer’s analysis.
In my not-so-humble opinion, the last really fun Porsche was the 911S Targa, circa 1969.
And also, by the way - beautiful family!
Try driving one of those into the rising or setting sun.
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My Corsa-TRW/Turbo (very “slightly” modified) was my version of a Porsche
Borrowing some stock ‘Vette and Z-28 and Trans-Am parts and aircraft tech and the access to pro shops
There was no street production Porsche that would run with it
The Silver Bullet would zip to NYC and back each day
Recently, the Ford GT-40 that first beat the Ferrari's went on auction. Bidded to > $6 million but not enough for a sale.
I need to look at a map, don’t know how far you had to travel.
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Distance was relative
I could move fast on snow or ice too
Depended on traffic and rain
I did not care for trying to set records driving in heavy rain conditions - other commuters and the occassional hydroplaning thrill do not mix
The Silver Bullet was invisible
By the time you saw it - I was in NYC
[The Silver Bullet was invisible
By the time you saw it - I was in NYC]
So good - it’s gone, huh?
You:
Off the cliff at 205 MPH. High performance liberalism.
Lol, it’s back - and it changed colors! That’s nothing like all the sport cars you had and liked.
Heading off, wrote you.
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