VW Forges Stronger Link with Porsche

Volkswagen AG continues to strengthen its ties with Porsche AG, in which it owns a 49.9% stake, even as its efforts to buy the rest of the sports car maker bog down, Reuters reports.

Porsche will start producing the next-generation Boxster roadster in September at VW's plant in Osnabruck, Germany. The factory will begin making the revamped Cayman sports coupe next year. Porsche tells Reuters it dispatched engineers to Osnabruck last autumn to train workers there who now make the mass-market Golf cabrio how to assemble luxury vehicles.

The sports car maker says shifting the two models there from its main Zuffenhausen plant in Stuttgart will free up much-needed capacity for the flagship 911 sports car, according to the news service.

VW already makes the bodies of Porsche's Cayenne SUV and Panamera sedan at facilities in Bratislava, Slovakia, and Leipzig, Germany, respectively.

VW's efforts to acquire Porsche Automobil Holding SE, which owns the remaining 51.1% stake in the sports car company, were stymied by lawsuits that made it impossible to put a value on the holding company. Porsche SE could face a tax bill of as much as €1.5 billion if VW buys Porsche AG outright. News reports earlier this month said German tax authorities might offer Porsche SE a loophole to avoid paying the tax.