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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.

Porsche GT division rules out AWD, SUVs

Any German automaker worth its lap times needs a performance division. Mercedes has AMG, BMW has the M division, Audi has Quattro GmbH with its S and RS models... even Volkswagen has its R line of hot hatches. And though Porsche is a performance automaker unto itself, even it has a performance division. It's called Porsche GT, and though it's been branching outside the 911 range lately, don't expect it to wander too far. According to Car and Driver, which spoke recently with Porsche GT boss Andreas Preuninger and R&D chief Wolfgang Hatz, there are limits to what the division will do. And while those limits may have been broadened to include technologies like turbocharging and dual-clutch transmissions, they won't stretch as far as all-wheel drive. Take a look at the previous-generation 997 and what separated the 911 GT2 from the 911 Turbo was principally its all-wheel-drive system. Porsche GT isn't planning on doing a GT2 this time around – the new GT3 RS occupying that territory on its own – but the next generation (whether it wears the number 2 or 3) will likely go turbo along with most of the rest of the 911 family. The exclusion of all-wheel drive from the Porsche GT parts bin also means that the division won't be taking on the company's SUVs like the Cayenne and Macan. So the Cayenne GTS will be as extreme as it gets, taking on the likes of the BMW X5 M, Mercedes GL63 and Audi SQ5 without the help of Zuffenhausen's racing department. We can't expect the PDK to stick around though, so to speak. Though the new Cayman GT4 packs a manual transmission, the 911 GT3 and GT3 RS have dual-clutch gearboxes. Moving forward, Preuninger says they'll leave it up to prospective customers to decide which type of transmission they'll build into their most extreme performance models.

Porsche returns to Forza with Horizon 2 expansion [w/video]

The bar for driving and racing game excellence has been raised to remarkable levels in recent years, and with titles making use of Xbox One and Playstation 4 hardware. But, if you're a fan of major franchises like Forza Motorsport and Gran Turismo, the most obvious-for-its-omission car brand has always been Porsche. Happily, that prohibition ends tomorrow, with an epic piece of DLC for Forza Horizon 2. That's right, Forza confirmed to Autoblog (after a series of rumors) that the $9.99 Porsche Expansion hits tomorrow. In fact, we even have an exclusive first look the full car list: 1970 Porsche 914/6 1982 Porsche 911 Turbo 3.3 1987 Porsche 959 1989 Porsche 944 Turbo 2003 Porsche Carrera GT 2012 Porsche 911 GT3 RS 4.0 (997) 2014 Porsche 911 Turbo S 2014 Porsche 918 Spyder 2015 Porsche Cayman GTS 2015 Porsche Macan Turbo Ten of Stuttgart's finest include historically significant monsters like the 959 and Carrera GT, as well as newcomers Cayman GTS and Macan Turbo. Along with the cars, the expansion pack brings 10 Bucket List events, 10 Rivals events, and 15 achievements in total (for you Forza completionists). We've already put in for a sick day. Porsche has been far more reticent than most OEMs to license its cars for video games, to date, and even this expansion required a deal with Electronic Arts to bring to pass. And, while our sources at Turn 10 Studios say that this Porsche pack will be the only such content for FH2, we can expect that the upcoming Forza Motorsport 6 will be packed with 911s, et al. We couldn't get the studio to discuss specifics about future models (your author is hankering hard for some 356 action), but reps did say that they'll aim for balance, "never losing sight of the type of varied interests and experiences that our players love." Scroll down to read the full press release, or have a browse through our gallery of images and video. We'll see you on the road. Forza Horizon 2 Porsche Expansion Porsche is coming to Forza Horizon 2! Arriving on June 9 exclusively in Forza Horizon 2 for Xbox One, the Forza Horizon 2 Porsche Expansion will bring ten amazing Porsche models for the first time to an Xbox One Forza game. With Porsche models like the 1989 944 Turbo, the 2003 Carrera GT, and the 2014 911 GT3 RS 4.0, the Porsche Expansion Pack will give fans the chance to explore southern Europe in some of the legendary German manufacturer's most beloved cars.