Word: autos
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Over the past few days, the German luxury automaker Porsche has moved into high gear with the launch of its latest model, the Panamera, a 4-door, 4-seater sedan that it hopes will reverse flagging sales and maintain its status as the world's most profitable auto maker. But even as the motoring press descends on Stuttgart to test drive the new car, the Panamera launch is being overshadowed by a bizarre feud in the company's founding family that is starting to damage both Porsche and its sister company...
...Wendelin Wiedeking started buying up VW stock in order to safeguard the luxury sports carmaker's future. His vision was to merge the two companies into a single holding that would create substantial economies of scale and enable Porsche to avoid being penalized under new European rules governing auto emissions and fuel consumption standards; by being part of the bigger VW group with its range of low-emission, fuel efficient cars, Porsche's sports cars wouldn't stand out, Wiedeking reasoned...
Complicating matters, Porsche has amassed additional options that would take its stake in VW to about 75%, but it's unclear how it would finance those extra purchases. Auto industry sources and financial analysts are buzzing about whether Porsche somehow locked itself into a contract that obliges it to buy that additional stake. Porsche won't say; from the beginning it has refused to reveal all but the scantest details of its hedging strategy. (Watch a video about an optimistic Dodge dealer...
...Gulf state of Qatar over a cash infusion, but has so far failed to reach any deal. Piech sees the crisis as an opportunity to turn the tables and for VW to take control of Porsche, rather than the other way around. He's offered to buy Porsche's auto operations - but in a manner that provoked a furious response. Last weekend, the usually press-shy Wolfgang Porsche fired off an angry statement to the media accusing his cousin of issuing an ultimatum that he termed "blackmail." Piech shot back denying that it was an ultimatum. But a phrase...
...Sony continued to roll out variations on its theme, adding such innovations as AM/FM receivers, bass boost and auto-reverse on later models. Sony even made a solar-powered Walkman, water-resistant Sport Walkmans and even devices with two cassette drives. But cassettes, like any technology, weren't going to last forever. With the introduction of compact discs in 1982 the format began to go the way of the 8-track itself...