Saying Porsche is cash-rich, is akin to describing Roman Abramovich as a season ticket holder.
The world's most profitable car firm has been building up its coffers over recent years and many wondered what it was going to do next.
Expectations in the financial markets were centred on some form of share buyback scheme, or perhaps a large windfall dividend payment. What they were clearly not expecting was that the cash-wealthy but relative minnow would come along and take a controlling interest in the largest car firm in Europe. Particularly not when it was going through the sort of internal strife that VW is at present.
Yet that's exactly what it is in the process of doing. Estimates put the 20 per cent stake in VW at €3 billion. The shareholding will put them in the driving seat.
Porsche management, explaining the move last week to The Irish Times, cited the likely change in German legislation to end the so-called "VW law" which limits shareholders' voting rights in Volkswagen to a maximum of 20 per cent, even if their stake is higher. The law is currently being challenged in a case before the European Court of Justice. The court is widely expected to strike the VW law down, which would make the car giant a candidate for outside takeover.
The main concern, according to Porsche, was that hedge funds would move to take over VW and break it up, with some suggestions that Audi alone is worth about €10 billion. Certainly the VW's break-up value is far more than its current market valuation of €16.5 billion.
Porsche management claims the move was largely based on the need to secure supplies and cite the Cayenne SUV's link to VW's Touareg and the soon-to-be-launched Audi Q7 SUV as an example of VW's importance to the brand. Indeed some 30 per cent of the parts of Porsche cars come from VW. With plans to launch the Panamera four-door coupé by 2009, Porsche need to secure economies of scale to take on the likes of Mercedes and BMW in their main market segments.
Then there's the heritage behind the brands. Ferdinand Porsche designed the first People's Car for VW, before leaving to set up the eponymous car firm. The historical links are strong.
However, while some are concerned that Porsche is getting itself embroiled in a massive restructuring operation at VW, others point to more shrewd business incentives. Certainly VW is having problems, principally around its production processes and high labour costs in Germany. Some of its brands are also failing to show any signs of profitability - most notably Lamborghini.
While Porsche may certainly be able to help with the production processes and some synergies, it will have an uphill task changing the culture and labour issues at the much larger group.
So what if it doesn't work out? No one was prepared to even contemplate such an eventuality last week. However, if the worst were to happen, Porsche could always opt for the unthinkable and do what the hedge funds supposedly would do: split VW up and sell it off. Either way, Porsche seems destined to increase its burgeoning bank balance and there's no real risk of a takeover of Porsche for whatever traded shares there are have no voting rights. Meanwhile, its expanding product line seems to be racing off the forecourts.