Starting in July 1968, Porsche made a surprising and very expensive effort to take advantage of this rule. As they were rebuilding race cars with new chassis every race or two anyway, selling the used cars to customers, they decided to conceive, design and build 25 versions of a whole new car with 4.5 litre for the Sport category with one underlying goal: to win its first overall victory in the 24 Hours of Le Mans on May 14 1970. In only ten months the Porsche 917 was developed, based on the Porsche 908.

When Porsche was first visited by the CSI inspectors only three cars were completed, while 18 were being assembled and seven additional sets of parts were present. Porsche argued that if they assembled the cars they would then have to take them apart again to prepare the cars for racing. The inspectors refused the homologation and asked to see 25 assembled and working cars.

On March 12, 1969, a 917 was displayed at the Geneva Motor Show, painted white with a green nose and a black #917. Brief literature on the car detailed a cash price of DM 140,000, approximately Ł16,000 at period exchange rates – or the price of about ten Porsche 911s. This price did not cover the costs of development.

On April 20 Ferdinand Piëch displayed 25 917s parked in front of the Porsche factory to the CSI inspectors. Piëch even offered the opportunity to drive any of the cars, which was declined.

On 26 March 2007, Porsche took its holding of Volkswagen Group shares to 30.9%, triggering a takeover bid under German Law. Porsche then formally announced in a press statement that it did not intend to take over Volkswagen Group (it would set its offer price at the lowest possible legal value), but intended the move to avoid a competitor taking a large stake, or to stop hedge funds dismantling VWAG, which is Porsche’s most important partner. Porsche’s move comes after the European Union moved against a German Law that protected VWAG from takeovers. Under the so-called “Volkswagen Law”, any shareholder with more than 20% of the voting rights has veto power over any corporate decision in the annual general meeting – in effect, any shareholder in VWAG cannot exercise more than 20% of the firm’s voting rights, regardless of their level of stock holding. (The local state government of Lower Saxony owns 20.1% of the shares.) However, the European Court of Justice ruled against the law, potentially paving the way for a takeover.

On 16 September 2008, Porsche increased its shares by another 4.89%, in effect taking control of the company, with more than 35% of the voting rights. It again triggered a takeover bid, but this time over Audi. Porsche dismissed the bid as a mere formality, since it is Porsche’s intention to keep the corporate structure of the Volkswagen Group.

There has been some tension and anxiety amongst the Volkswagen Group workers, who fear that a Porsche takeover might signify a hardened production efficiency control, rejection of demands for payment rises or even personnel cuts. Ferdinand Piëch and his cousin, Wolfgang Porsche, also seemed to be on a collision course.

On 13 August, Volkswagen Aktiengesellschaft’s Supervisory Board signed the agreement to create an ‘integrated automotive group’ with Porsche led by Volkswagen AG. Volkswagen will initially take a 49.9 percent stake in Porsche AG by the end of 2009, and it will also see the family shareholders selling the automobile trading business of Porsche Holding Salzburg to Volkswagen AG.