Porsche's influence could spell Bugatti's end

[Wizzo]

Big changes are afoot at VW, as Martin Winterkorn, who, once just head of Audi, from yesterday becomes head of the VW brand; Ferdinand Piëch remains chairman. It could mean the end of VW's ownership of both Bugatti and Lamborghini.

Winterkorn replaces the departing Wolfgang Bernhard, whose tenure as head of VW ended yesterday. He was known as a restructuring expert who took a tough line on costs, so his departure means the current structure of dividing the Wolfsburg company's seven marques across the VW and Audi brand groups is to end, according to the FT today.

But the real powerhouses in the VW group remain Piëch and entryist Porsche boss Wendelin Wiedeking. Porsche owns about a third of VW which gives Wiedeking a seat on the board, even if, under a German law designed to prevent a foreign takeover of VW, he can't exercise more than about 20 per cent of his voting rights.

Wiedeking is said to be unhappy that Porsche is not the premium brand in the VW group -- and VW's three top-end marques, if you include Porsche, does look like too many for any company. According to Autocar, Wiedeking has even allegedly commissioned an special, high performance Porsche supercar to smash the Veyron's 252mph top speed record.

If Wiedeking has his way, Bugatti could be converted into an exclusive coachbuilding operation while Lamborghini could become VW's Aston Martin, and be sold off.

Meanwhile, rumours suggest former VW head Bernhard is thinking about heading back to former employer DaimlerChrysler, in order to front Chrysler's ailing US operations.