Little guy Porsche is taking huge swings, and not just at the giant that is Volkswagen. Porsche head Wendelin Wiedeking had fierce Teutonic words for General Motors and Ford, and banks. His Rindfleisch – beef, that is – with U.S. automakers is that, through unsound practices, they have thrown absolutely everything into turmoil. In the words of the Guardian, in fact, they have driven "the industry to the brink of ruin."
Those are big and perhaps hyperbolic words. But he then singles out GM for "openly threatening" the U.S. Government with bankruptcy, and predicts a hedge fund will take control of "one of the U.S. car manufacturers." Since Chrysler is already controlled by a hedge fund, that only leaves GM and Ford as the possible subjects of that comment. We can't imagine a hedge fund trying to swallow GM or Ford, especially after Cerberus has taken such a beating with Chrysler that seemingly all they can say is "Must... find... the exit."
Wiedeking is on more Earthly ground when he talks about the little guys, suppliers, who are quietly going under -- even though many of them ran their business correctly -- due to the banks' refusal to lend money while the clash of automotive titans continues. In a quote that people in many different industries can applaud, he says "We need banks to give credit, not just talk about credit ratings but start real actual lending to companies."
