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Porsche needs more people for Mission E

In an effort to get the all-electric Mission E on the road, Porsche is hiring an additional 400 people – on top of the 1,000 it previously hired – to work on the production and development of the vehicle. The majority of the new employees will work at the automaker's plant in Zuffenhausen, which is located close to Stuttgart, Germany, while others will focus on e-mobility, vehicle connectivity, and other related fields. In addition to hiring these new employees, Porsche is also looking for roughly 100 IT specialists, 50 creatives, and 70 more apprentices as part of an industry-wide push, though the Mission E is still four years away from going into production. In an interview with Australia's Drive, August Achleitner, product director for the 911, revealed that the automaker does not have any current plans to put an electric 911 on to the road. "Right now it wouldn't make sense in our opinion to offer an electric 911, or hybrid version, because there are so many disadvantages of such a concept with this narrow layout of a 911," stated Achleitner. While the automaker is currently not interested in creating an electric 911, Achleitner believes that vehicle could become a possibility in the future – 10 years into the future. Achleitner points towards a lack of demand for an electric 911 as another hindrance to the vehicle. Achleitner's comments go directly against what Lutz Meschke, a board member at Porsche AG, stated earlier this year. In March, one of Porsche's official Twitter accounts claimed that the automaker would offer a hybrid version of every model in its lineup, including the 911. Porsche never released any specific dates on when its mass hybridization project would begin, as the automaker uses the term "near future" to describe its plans. Related Video: Featured Gallery Porsche Mission E Concept: Frankfurt 2015 View 37 Photos News Source: Drive, PorscheImage Credit: Copyright 2015 Drew Phillips / AOL Green Hirings/Firings/Layoffs Porsche Coupe Electric Sedan porsche mission e porsche mission e concept

$1.4B hedge fund suit against Porsche dismissed

Investors have canvassed courts in Europe and the US to repeatedly sue Porsche over its failed attempt to take over Volkswagen in 2008 (see here, and here and here), and they have repeatedly failed to win any cases. You can add another big loss to the tally, with Bloomberg reporting that the Stuttgart Regional Court has dismissed a 1.4-billion euro ($1.95B US) lawsuit, the decision explained by the court's assertion that the investors would have lost on their short bets even if Porsche hadn't misled them.
Examining the hedge funds' motives for stock purchases and the bets that VW share prices would fall, judge Carola Wittig said that the funds didn't base their decisions on the key bits of "misinformation," and instead were participating simply in "highly speculative and naked short selling," only to get caught out.
With other cases still pending, the continued streak of victories bodes well for Porsche's courtroom fortunes, since judges will expect new information to consider overturning precedent. If there is any new info, it could come from the potential criminal cases still outstanding against former CEO Wendelin Wiedeking and CFO Holger Härter, who were both indicted on charges of market manipulation.

Drive-up bank robbery perpetrated with Cayenne and WRX

Thieves carried out what appears to be a movie-script-perfect robbery of a bank in Sydney, Australia early on Friday morning, using two stolen high-performance vehicles in the process.
At around 11:15 AM local time, in near mid-day light, reports say that two men in masks smashed into the side of a Westpac bank in a confirmed-stolen black Porsche Cayenne. The perpetrators were armed with sledgehammers according to witness reports, and took only about five minutes to take what they were after inside of the bank.
The rapid getaway was executed in a Subaru WRX, also confirmed as a stolen vehicle, while witnesses snapped camera phone images of the illicit goings on. One Twitter user posted a few of the images to his social media feed; you can take a look at them in our small gallery below. Follow on down for the full video report, from The Sydney Morning Herald.