Fighting to maintain the social model. Indeed, for over a year, they fought for VW to retain control over its destiny and to maintain Volkswagen’s “social model,” where few decisions can be made without the consent of the staff representatives. Yet, until late 2008, it seemed that Porsche’s model, with “light joint management,” was going to win. Centralizing power in a “European holding company” (see our dispatch No. 070573) controlling the participation of the owning families at Porsche and Volkswagen, Porsche managed to have its presence widely felt and the power of Volkswagen’s union and staff representatives in the new control structure (see our dispatch No. 070704) was seriously reduced. But the first tremors of the crisis and the determination of VW’s WC led the parties to a friendly agreement (see our dispatch No. 081035), slightly improving representation for VW’s 370,000 employees (as opposed to 12,000 for Porsche) within the supervisory board of Porsche Automobil Holding SE.
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The Volkswagen team takes the lead. In spite of brilliant stock operations which enabled Porsche to buy some Volkswagen shares, Porsche geared up to €9 billion to get almost 51% of Volkswagen’s capital. On the other side, Volkswagen, enjoying past restructurings and the government’s scrappage premium, has €11bn in its war chest. With the economic and financial crisis, the increase in the value of VW’s shares and the drop in sales for luxury cars, silent partners have become suspicious and Por
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