Porsche has won an internal battle with Audi in the Volkswagen Group to take the lead in developing both sports cars and large luxury saloons for the Group.Group boss Martin Winterkorn confirmed Porsche’s role within VW after the German sports car firm had feared it would be sidelined within the multi-brand automotive giant.
Porsche resisted plans for a VW-developed platform for its core 911 range and will instead developed the next-generation platform for front-mid- and rear-mid-engine cars from Porsche, Audi and Lamborghini, as well as a “modular standard matrix” to underpin Porsche and Bentley saloons.
Winterkorn’s announcement follows Porsche confirming plans last week to expand its Weissach design and engineering facility and recruit 100 new engineers.It also confirms comments new Porsche boss Matthias Müller made to Autocar last week about his desire to share platforms and knowledge with Bentley.
Audi had lobbied hard for Porsche’s new role within VW Group, and it will instead by responsible for further development of the Group’s “modular longitudinal matrix” used on the Audi A4, A5 and Q5 models.
VW is currently developing a “modular transverse matrix” that will first appear on the next Audi A3, before going on to underpin around 40 models, selling three million units annually.
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