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Porsche-Piech buy 10% stake in VW's holding company

In August, 2009, as the scuttled merger of Porsche and Volkswagen had gone bad and Porsche was backed up against the ropes, Porsche Automobil Holding SE (PAHSE) relinquished a ten-percent stake in itself to Qatar Holdings as well as options it held on 17 percent of VW shares. The sale meant that, for the first time since the founding of the company 61 years before, an entity outside the Porsche and Piech families had a say in the running of PAHSE.
Buying that ten-percent stake back returns full ownership to the two families, the holding company's sole possession being ownership of 50.7 percent of VW's common shares. The price paid wasn't disclosed, but at market rates the purchase would be worth close to $1.25 billion. Qatar intends to hold onto the 17-percent stake it has in Volkswagen.

Watch a Group B Porsche 911 tear up the 'Ring in the snow

The Nurburgring is a motorsports fantasyland during the best weather, but it looks even more exciting when the snow starts to fall. While the course isn't open to the general public during the winter, this Porsche 911 SC RS rally car managed a lap of the snow-covered Grand Prix Circuit, sliding the whole way around. The 911 SC RS isn't as famous as Porsche racers like the 917, but it has an interesting story. Porsche's development of the 959 was slow in the '80s, and this coupe was the company's stopgap for Group B rallying. The SC RS used the 911 Turbo's wider body, suspension, and brakes, but the car had a naturally aspirated 3.0-liter flat-six to drive the rear wheels. It couldn't compete against all-wheel drive beasts like the Audi Quattro, but one managed third place in the 1985 Tour de Corse in France. The SC RS sounds great in this video, and it looks even better kicking up snow. There's so much accumulation that you can't tell which way the track goes, but driver Patrick Simon knows his way around. After watching this clip, we think the 'Ring should unleash a few more old rally cars on the track for a new racing series next winter.

Porsche 911 GT spied streaking at the Nurburgring

At any given moment, you can bet that Porsche is testing some new version of the 911. When we see those prototypes undergoing testing, they're typically camouflaged, at least in part, to keep us from seeing what Zuffenhausen (or Weissach) is up to. But this particular example is completely undisguised. So what are we looking at, exactly? Well, for starters, it's likely the upcoming facelifted version of the current 911. The current 991 generation has been on the market now for four years, so the 991.2 (or 991.5, perhaps?) will likely be tasked with keeping Porsche's iconic sports car current for several more years to come. This version can be seen with front air intakes similar to those on the Cayman GT4, along with updated headlights, LED strips, new door handles, ventilated rear engine cover, reprofiled rear bumper, fresh taillights, and a new exhaust. The far bigger development is that the updated 911 is expected to ditch natural aspiration in favor of downsized turbocharged engines across almost the entire range – not just in the 911 Turbo. This particular version we see here, however, could be one of the few hold-outs for atmospheric pressure. That's because what we're looking at could be the upcoming back-to-basics version being prepared by the GT division – the same outfit responsible for the 911 GT3, GT3 RS, and Cayman GT4. Possibly adopting the name GT5, this new version of the 911 is anticipated to be the purist's choice: naturally aspirated flat-six, three-pedal manual transmission, skinny tires, no frills. This undisguised prototype appears to be packing a production roll cage and thin, leather-clad bucket seats – splitting the difference between racing buckets and the usual, thicker thrones. We'll have to wait a bit longer until Porsche is ready to release all the details of the refreshed 911, hopefully to include that GT version. But for an unadulterated taste of what's to come, look no further than the spy shots in the image gallery above. Related Video: