Porsche 2007 Annual Report Download - page 7

4
To our shareholders
The Company
The new Panamera
Financials
We are realizing our industrial logic
The goal is clear: Porsche intends to acquire the
majority shareholding in the Volkswagen Group,
thereby creating a clear ownership structure.
Some may have found the strategy for realizing
this goal difficult to understand at times, but it has
always and solely been focused on our industrial
logic: we are safeguarding the core business
of Porsche and Volkswagen, and are forging an
automotive alliance that will successfully master
the big challenges of the future as global com-
petition gets ever tougher.
The global financial crisis and the enormous mis-
trust among the banks themselves accompanied
by the unexpectedly severe economic downturn
all over the world has made consumers very cau-
tious, and no carmaker can any longer remain
unaffected by these developments. Porsche be-
gan preparing for this eventuality some time ago,
for example running down production for the USA.
Our policy of not granting ex works discounts is
paying off. The fact that Porsche has not artifi-
cially driven up sales means we can build on a
stable foundation in this time of crisis.
And we would rather continue to take a dip in
sales than move away from this solid policy.
Not only that – as we know, the foundation for
future success is laid in stormy times, and not
when the going’s good. So we are all the more
certain that we are following the right path with
Porsche Automobil Holding SE. Our emerging new
business entity can realize joint developments and
harness savings potential without jeopardizing the
independence of the individual brands. A necessary
prerequisite is a group structure acceptable to
both Volkswagen and Porsche. Realizing this new
structure will be the next milestone on the road to
creating one of the most successful automotive
alliances of the future.
With regard to the rights of Volkswagen’s work-
force, the Porsche Executive Board has proposed
that, even if the VW law is abolished, decisions
concerning plant closures or the relocation of
capacity taken by the Volkswagen Supervisory
Board will require a two-thirds majority. This pro-
posal is evidence of Porsche’s determination to
give top priority to the security of Volkswagen
jobs in Germany. We are also in no doubt that the
new VW law which the German government pro-
poses to introduce has no future.
In its judgment of October 2007, the European
Court of Justice already found key elements of the
legislation to be incompatible with European law.
Given the pressing problems of the global finan-
cial and economic crisis, the fact that the German