Porsche, an auto-industry soap opera

After months of feuding in board rooms and living rooms, Porsche will be taken over by Volkswagen. The two makes, like the families that own them, "are cousins," the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung points out. "The resemblance is visible in the old photographs." Although it became "the icon of a young, hedonistic Republic," the Porsche was built on the same foundations as the Beetle, "an honest workhorse". After the two branches of the family parted ways, Ferdinand Piëch allegedly mourned the loss of the prestigious Porsche name. When he became CEO of VW, he "porsche-ised" the whole company. "He bought out Bugatti, developed the Quattro and R8… All those cars that cried out, 'Look, I can do Porsche too!'"

Now that he manages both companies, Piëch will have the opportunity to express "his second ego: to develop environmental high-tech that tantalises the consumer," the daily comments. Rumors say that Wendelin Wiedeking, the ousted Porsche CEO, has bought shares in the shoe industry. FAZ sums it up: "From the fast lane to the hiking trail, from fuel injection to sandals: it's like a summer fairy tale in the era of climate change."