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VW makes $23K on every Porsche sold, more than Bentley or Lamborghini

It's a good time to be in the luxury car business. In Volkswagen Group's financial report for the 2013 fiscal year, it is revealed that that Porsche enjoyed an operating margin of 18 percent. That means the Stuttgart brand made on average about $23,200 per car sold, according to BusinessWeek. Bentley wasn't far behind, and Audi (which was combined with Lamborghini) posted a 10.1 percent margin. This compares to only around 2.9 percent for the Volkswagen brand.
"Luxury brands are on fire," said Dave Sullivan, an industry analyst at AutoPacific. He said that the average profit margin is between six and eight percent. Brands like Porsche and Bentley have the benefit of competing in rarefied markets. Buyers looking at one their vehicles have fewer models to shop against and don't care as much about price. They can also charge more for options, which further boosts income, according to BusinessWeek.
In a way, we should be more impressed by the continued success from Audi. Its models generally have direct competitors in every segment from the other premium automakers. Plus, their buyers aren't the captains of industry who are shopping for a Bentley. Still, the Four Rings is leading rivals in sales so far this year.

Volkswagen names Piech's nieces to supervisory board

Volkswagen was left with two vacancies on its supervisory board after Ferdinand Piech and his wife Ursula were forced out a few days ago, and now it's filled them. Intriguingly, however, both of the new directors are Piech's nieces. The most obvious connection is Julia Kuhn-Piech, a real-estate professional who has sat on the board of VW's Man truck subsidiary since last year. Kuhn-Piech, 34, is the daughter of Ferdinand's younger brother Hans-Michel Piech (and by extension, niece of the ousted chairman). The other seat is being filled by Dr. Louise Kiesling, 57, a designer and daughter of Ferdinand's late older sister Louise Daxer-Piech. Keeping track of the lineage of the Porsche-Piech clan can be confusing, particularly with so many Ferdinands and Louises, but it breaks down essentially as follows: All are descended from Ferdinand Porsche, founder of the eponymous automaker and credited as the designer of the original Volkswagen Beetle. Porsche had a son and a daughter, the latter being Louise Porsche, who married Anton Piech and had four children: Ernst, Louise (mother of incoming board member Louise Kiesling), Ferdinand (the ousted chairman) and Hans Michel, father of the other incoming board member Julia Kuhn-Piech and a board member of both the Volkswagen Group and Porsche SE as well. The Piech and Porsche families control Porsche SE, which holds 50.7 percent of shares in the Volkswagen Group, which in turn owns Porsche the automaker. With all that in mind, appointing other members of the Piech-Porsche clan to the board follows logically enough - particularly since other members of the family helped oust Ferdinand from the chairmanship in the first place. The nominations, incidentally, also help VW increase its proportion of female board members. The two incoming Piechs will join Annika Falkengren of Swedish bank SEB and Babette Frohlich of the same IG Metall union as the board's interim chairman Berthold Huber. Wolfsburg, 30 April 2015 Dr. Louise Kiesling and Ms. Julia Kuhn-Piech appointed new members of the Supervisory Board of Volkswagen AG Upon application by the Board of Management of Volkswagen AG, Dr. Louise Kiesling and Ms. Julia Kuhn-Piech were today appointed members of the Supervisory Board of Volkswagen AG by Braunschweig Local Court with immediate effect. The appointments were made pursuant to Section 104 of the Aktiengesetz (German Stock Corporation Act) and were occasioned by the recent resignations of Prof. Ferdinand K.

2015 Porsche 911 GTS starts at $114,200*

Purists often criticize Porsche for creating products like the Cayenne, Panamera and recently launched Macan, saying they dilute the true sports car spirit of the brand. It's an argument we've heard before, and one we counter with two points. First: No they don't. And second: These are Porsche's volume superstars, and the money they rake in allows the company to create dozens of versions of its well-liked sports cars. Want proof? Have a look at the gallery above, where you'll see four new versions of the 911, all with GTS badges on their rumps. This means Porsche now offers 19 versions of the 911. Nineteen.
Porsche offered a GTS version of the 911 in its previous generation, and this new one seeks to slot somewhere between the standard car and the hardcore GT3. It's available in coupe and cabriolet forms, with either rear- or all-wheel drive, starting at $114,200, *not including $995 for destination. The GTS Cabriolet comes in at $126,100, while models equipped with AWD will set you back $120,900 or $132,800 for the coupe or convertible, respectively.
All GTS models get the 430-horsepower version of the Carrera S' 3.8-liter flat-six with the Powerkit, which also includes the Sport Chrono package and the sport exhaust. If equipped with the PDK dual-clutch transmission, the 911 GTS will hit 60 miles per hour in just 3.8 seconds (or four seconds flat, if you've got the Cabriolet) - one tenth of a second quicker than the normal Carrera S. The car's top speed varies, depending on trim or transmission, but Porsche says the car will hit anywhere from 187 to 190 mph, flat out.