Porsche to delay buying majority stake in VW due to market conditions

Porsche has announced that it is delaying its move to buy a majority stake in the Volkswagen Group due to a surge in Volkswagen shares and the tough global auto industry market. Porsche CEO Wendelin Wiedeking said that it is unrealistic for his company to take majority control of V-dub this year in the current economic environment. However, he said that Porsche is still firm in its intention to increase its stake to 75 percent in 2009.

According to Automotive News, Porsche, who currently holds a 42.6 percent stake in Volkswagen, saw its shares go up 8.5 percent today while Volkswagen was up 12.2 percent.

COO Holger Haerter said that Porsche is not willing to acquire Volkswagen share for an “economically ridiculous” price. He said that Porsche expects its sales to fall during the 2008-2009 business year.