Porsche to liquidate aero engine branch
Sat Mar 5, 3:54 PM ET
Business - AFP
BERLIN (AFP) - German sports carmaker Porsche said that it planned
to wind up its aircraft engine subsidiary which has been losing it
tens of millions of euros annually.
Porsche went into aircraft engine manufacture 20 years ago prompted
by its former boss Peter Werner, a keen pilot.
Production was wound up but a subsidiary was set up to repair and
sell aero engine components of 20 remaining airworthy planes fitted
with Porsche engines.
The branch was costing the parent company, the most profitable
carmaker in the world, tens of million of euros in annual
losses.
The latest edition of Der Spiegel appearing on Monday said the
group's present chief Wendelin Wiedeking had offered to replace the
Porsche engines of customers by another make for free, or to buy
back the plane from the customer.
But many plane owners had refused the offer because of the Porsche
aircraft engine's reputation for reliability, the report said.