Is VW Taking Porsche Mainstream?

What the Porsche mid-engine roadster could look like if built. - Illustration by Radovan Varicak

Winterkorn, Volkswagen Group chief, just days after the denouement of the VW-Porsche takeover saga. Porsche had to give up its four-year attempt to take over VW and was itself taken over. Porsche CEO Wendelin Wiedeking lost his job while VW chief Martin Winterkorn got named CEO of the new combine, which will merge in 2011. And shortly after Wiedeking departed, German prosecutors raided his office and others in an investigation of possible market manipulation.

Winterkorn was, as expected, in expansionist mood. How many cars might Porsche build a year? "There's no limit," he said. Is 150,000 possible? "Why not?"

He advocated doing this by 2012 or 2013, by entering new sectors with new models. (Porsche had sold 98,652 cars as of July.) Winterkorn later told Germany's Manager Magazin that Porsche should add three new cars, including one smaller than the Boxster.

Return of the 928? Producing a coupe version of the Panamera could be just what Dr. Winterkorn orders. - Illustration by Radovan Varicak

This ties in with a strategy outlined in our reports in past months. VW brand chief Ulrich Hackenberg told Motor Trend that the BlueSport midengine roadster needs a sister car from another brand to make a business case. It would make a good Audi R4, but that might sit uneasily alongside the TT roadster. From a new fuel economy/emissions standard perspective, an entry-level four-cylinder Porsche does make sense.
Porsche management, including new CEO Michael Macht, have spoken against making a car cheaper than the Boxster. They no longer call the shots. They're not against expanding Porsche, as they did first with the Cayenne and now with the Panamera. But they want the expansion to be measured, and done with expensive vehicles.

Winterkorn is also considering reviving the idea of a Porsche twin to the Audi Q5 small SUV. The tie-up between the Cayenne, Touareg and Audi Q7 has been a sales success for all three brands.

As with the new Touareg, (Trend, September), the new Cayenne, pictured below during testing, is on its way. It still uses the Touareg platform, this time in Mk II form. It's based on the original but is lighter in base-model form, by making heavyweight off-road hardware optional.

The new Cayenne was spied testing recently at the Nurburgring.

The design has a more Porsche-like nose: the hood cutline comes forward between the headlights. The new model gets more profiled side panels with obvious shoulders over the rear wheels. The tailgate is faster, and the third side window more rakish and triangular. The cabin features a dash architecture and switchgear rather like the Panamera's. The main new engine is the supercharged V-6 hybrid edition. Other powertrains continue with little change. The new Cayenne will be shown in 2010 for sale in 2011.