Despite its historically close ties with Volkswagen , Porsche has – for the most part – largely carried on as an independent company. However, with VW set to take a 49.9 percent stake in Porsche, the German sports car maker with have to alter its operations, including wider platform sharing.
In what might seem like blasphemy to most purists, Porsche will likely be forced to share some of its car platforms with other brands under the Volkswagen umbrella – including its recently launched Panamera sedan. “The Panamera platform could be used by other brands for models that are in development and at the concept stage,” Porsche boss Michael Macht told Autocar.
But don’t look for the platform sharing to stop there. Macht added that even Porsche 911 platform “could be made available to other VW brands”.
Although it sounds as if VW and Porsche’s parts sharing will run pretty deep in the coming years, don’t expect to see a flat-six powered Audi – or any other VW product, for that matter – on the road any time soon. Macht says engine development is a core value for Porsche and therefore won’t be shared with other VW brands.
VW and Porsche’s first platform sharing joint-venture is expected to be based on a production version of the VW BlueSport concept.
