2005 Carrera Turbo S Only 16k Miles, Ceramic Brakes, Navigation, California Car! on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Porsche names Oliver Blume as new CEO

With Matthias Muller stepping up to take over as the new chief executive of the entire Volkswagen Group, the Porsche division is going to need a new CEO of its own. Taking Muller's place will be Dr. Oliver Blume, who assumes his new responsibilities on October 1. Blume is no stranger to the higher ranks at Porsche, having served for over two years now as the executive in charge of the company's production and logistics. In that capacity, he oversaw the establishment of the workshop where the 918 Spyder was built by hand, and the expansion of the Leipzig plant to handle production of the Macan and Panamera. He'll now be stepping into bigger shoes, however, as chairman of the board of management – essentially the company's chief executive. At the same time, Porsche has also named Detlev von Platen as its head of sales and marketing. Von Platen has for the past seven years headed up the North American office, which recently lost its VP as well to Rolls-Royce, so they're going to need to make some new appointments in Atlanta. The previous marketing chief Bernhard Maier is moving to the Czech Republic to take over as CEO of Skoda. The company's CFO Lutz Meschke has also been named as deputy chairman of the executive board. The appointments come amidst a giant game of musical chairs within the Volkswagen Group. Aside from the ousting of former supervisory board chairman Ferdinand Piech five months ago, the diesel emissions scandal has seen the German industrial giant cleaning house within its top ranks and R&D staff. Most notable was the resignation of Martin Winterkorn, whose position at the head of the group's management board Muller will now assume. Supervisory Board of Porsche AG appoints Detlev von Platen Head of Sales and Marketing Oliver Blume is new Chairman of the Executive Board Stuttgart. At its meeting today, the Supervisory Board of Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG appointed Dr. Oliver Blume (47) the Chairman of the Executive Board of the sports car manufacturer effective October 1, 2015. Blume succeeds Matthias Muller (62), who was appointed by the Supervisory Board of Volkswagen AG to be the new Chairman of the Board of Management of the Wolfsburg-based group. It has been exactly five years since Muller left Volkswagen to become the CEO of Porsche AG. Since the beginning of 2013, Blume has been a member of the Porsche Executive Board responsible for Production and Logistics.

Motor Trend puts Chevy Camaro Z28 and Porsche 911 GT3 Head 2 Head

Motor Trend admits, "This is an unfair comparison." But that doesn't make it any less fun to watch when they pit a Camaro Z/28 against the Porsche 911 GT3. The former has a 7.0-liter V8 with 505 horsepower and 481 pound-feet of torque shifted through a six-speed manual. The latter has a 3.8-liter flat-six with 475 hp and 324 lb-ft shifted through a seven-speed dual-clutch transmission. Yet those are only the little disparities – the big disparities are mass and money: the Camaro weighs 3,882 pounds and costs $76,150 as-tested, the Porsche weighs 3,267 pounds and costs $145,785. But they're both about hardcore performance, so MT takes them out on the street, to the drag strip, to the parking lot for figure eights and a skidpad test, and finally to Big Willow for Randy Pobst to give his professional assessment. Remember when a lotta people spent a lotta time debating Pirates vs. Ninjas? This is like that, only it's the "haul-ass good-time car" vs. the "track surgeon." Enjoy the debate in the video.

Porsche's former CEO Wiedeking to stand trial over VW-share manipulation

Former Porsche CEO Wendelin Wiedeking (left in the above photo) could potentially be facing some time in the slammer after all. The last we had heard, he and former Chief Financial Officer Holger Haerter (right) had avoided a trial in April due to a lack of evidence. However, an appeals court in Stuttgart has looked at the case again and overruled the earlier decision, finding that the executives should be tried for share manipulation during Porsche's failed attempt to take over Volkswagen in 2008, Bloomberg reports.
The judges in the appeal "list numerous indications that could suggest that there was a hidden decision to increase the stake as they could suggest the opposite evaluation by the lower court," said Stefan Schueler, a spokesperson for the court, in a statement cited by Bloomberg. Wiedeking and Haerter put out their own releases saying that there was no merit to the charges.
The prosecutors allege that Wiedeking and Haerter had a plan to buy up VW stock options in 2008 to take the automotive giant over but hid it from investors. The whole thing was a massive failure and eventually allowed VW the chance to acquire Porsche and forced the two execs to step down. In addition to the criminal investigation, hedge funds have attempted to sue the company multiple times in civil court for the same reason, but they have repeatedly failed.