大眾汽車合并保時捷

Porsche's family owners yesterday settled months of feuding over a rescue of Germany's debt-ridden sports car maker by agreeing a merger with Volkswagen and ousting its chief executive Wendelin Wiedeking with a huge €50m ($71m) pay-off.

保時捷(Porsche)家族所有者昨日同意與大眾(Volkswagen)合并，并以5000萬歐元（合7100萬美元）的豐厚遣散費，罷免其首席執(zhí)行官文德林•魏德金(Wendelin Wiedeking)。數(shù)月來圍繞如何救助這家負債累累的德國跑車制造商的紛爭，就此塵埃落定。

The merger, which is planned for 2011, would bring Porsche under the umbrella of Europe's biggest car and truck empire, where it would join other famous marques including Audi, Bugatti and Bentley.

合并將于2011年完成，屆時，保時捷將加入奧迪(Audi)、布加迪(Bugatti)和賓利(Bentley)的行列，納入歐洲最大的汽車和卡車帝國。

But the terms of Mr Wiedeking's pay-off, one of the biggest ever in Germany, reignited a fierce public row over executive pay in the country, which is heading towards a general election in two months time. One of the best paid managers in the world, Mr Wiedeking was accused by one politician of “cashing in big time”.

但魏德金的遣散條款——德國歷來最高的遣散費之一——再次激起了公眾對于德國高管薪酬的強烈不滿。德國將在2個月后舉行大選。作為全球收入最高的經(jīng)理人之一，魏德金被一位政界人士指責在“大撈一把”。

The agreement on a merger was a personal victory for Ferdinand Piëch, Volkswagen's chairman. The grandson of Ferdinand Porsche, the designer of the VW Beetle who helped found Porsche, has long harboured an ambition to unite the two companies. The proposed merger would catapult his family into the league of global car dynasties such as the Fords or the Agnellis.

同意合并是大眾董事長費迪南德•皮耶希(Ferdinand Piech)的一次個人勝利。皮耶希是大眾“甲殼蟲”車設(shè)計者費迪南德•保時捷(Ferdinand Porsche)的外孫，費迪南德•保時捷幫助創(chuàng)建了保時捷公司。皮耶希一直心懷合并兩家公司的抱負。擬議中的合并，將使其家族躋身福特(Ford)、阿涅利(Agnellis)家族等全球汽車王朝之列。

“Together, Volkswagen and Porsche have all it takes to occupy a leading position in the international automotive industry,” the 72-year-old patriarch said.

這位72歲的家族首領(lǐng)表示：“大眾與保時捷合起來，具備了在國際汽車行業(yè)占據(jù)領(lǐng)先地位所需的一切要素。”

The Porsche families yesterday dismissed Mr Wiedeking and Holger Härter, the sports car maker's chief financial officer. The pugnacious chief executive had fallen out of favour with Mr Piëch, after Porsche's acquisition of more than 50 per cent of Volkswagen left it with net debts of €10bn.

保時捷家族昨日解雇了魏德金和保時捷首席財務(wù)官霍格爾•黑特(Holger Harter)。在保時捷因收購大眾逾50%的股份而背上100億歐元的凈債務(wù)之后，咄咄逼人的魏德金就失去了皮耶希的好感。

譯者/陳云飛