A couple inspects a Volkswagen Passat automobile at a dealership in Nuremberg, Germany

When Ferry Porsche designed the automaker’s first sports car in 1948, he based it on the Beetle his father built for Volkswagen under a contract with the Nazis in 1934.

Then last year, Porsche SE Chairman Wolfgang Porsche, Piech’s cousin, backed an effort to try to take control of Volkswagen AG. The resulting feud may be close to a settlement with board meetings at both carmakers and now it’s VW that may end up owning Porsche.

Volkswagen Chairman Piech is winning the upper hand, after Porsche racked up 10 billion euros (US$14.2 billion) in debt trying to take over VW. Porsche approved a step needed for a merger at an all-night meeting and wants to sell a stake to a Qatar investment fund. A takeover by VW after that sale would give victory to Piech.

Porsche CEO Wendelin Wiedeking announced his immediate departure Thursday, accepting a 50 million-euro severance package, half of which will go to a charity.

“This will be a huge crowning glory on Piech’s career, unifying all the historical links between the companies in a nice, neat package,” said Tim Urquhart, an automotive analyst with research firm IHS Global Insight in London.

“He loves these battles and this is his biggest. He’s the kingmaker.”

Ferdinand Porsche was Volkswagen’s first leader. His daughter married Anton Piech, father of the current VW chairman, and he became a Volkswagen director.

Own terms

The extended Porsche-Piech family controls all of the sports-car maker’s voting shares. While Porsche Chairman Wolfgang Porsche, 66, and cousin Ferdinand Piech, 72, were both in favor of a combination of the carmakers for years, they have disagreed over how a pact should come together and now each wants a deal on his own terms.

Piech, who worked his way up through VW’s Audi unit to become CEO and then chairman at Europe’s largest carmaker, aims to absorb the 911 sports-car maker into the VW empire. That would make Porsche VW’s 10th brand in a line-up that includes less expensive models such as Skoda and Seat.

At Porsche, Wolfgang Porsche and Wiedeking had wanted their company to be the acquirer, even though Volkswagen was bigger. Though

Porsche makes fewer cars in a year than Volkswagen does in a week, Wiedeking started in 2005 to accumulate shares in VW and by January Porsche’s stake in VW exceeded 50 percent.

Source: Bloomberg