Porsche Directors resign, as the company continues talks with VW over an integrated automotive group.

Porsche Directors, Dr. Wendelin Wiedeking and Holger P. Haerter have both resigned with immediate effect saying the company is “better off if they are not on board.”

The two members of the Porsche board will continue serve in an advisory capacity, but will no longer serve on the board of Porsche or supervisory board of Volkswagen (VW) and Audi. Wiedeking and Haerter will receive compensation of €50 million (£43m) and €12.5m (£10m), respectively, in compensation for leaving their contracts prematurely.

Dr. Wiedeking, CEO of the company, will be replaced by Michael Macht, and Thomas Edig, will succeed Haerter.   

On the same day the resignation was announced, Porsche finalised talks with Qatar Holdings LLC (QH) over an investment in the car company, to help “lay the foundations for creating an integrated car manufacturing company from Porsche and VW”.

Although Porsche holds the majority of the voting rights in the VW group, since increasing its shareholding in Europe’s largest car group to 50.8% this year, talks still continue over the creation of an integrated group for the two companies.

However, as discussions between the two persist, the German luxury car manufacturer has still been suffering, like many other car manufacturers, during the recent downturn. In its interim financial report covering the period 1 August 2008 to 19 June 2009, the company said sales in its Porsche sub-group fell by 27.6% to 53,635 vehicles compared to the same period last year. Its Boxster series of cars showed the biggest fall, with a drop of 46.7% in sales.

Porsches’ other sub-brands including VW, Audi, Skoda all suffered similar fates.

However, on a positive note, the increase in shareholding and consolidation of VW has provided it with a €22.9 billion increase in generated sales compared to the previous year. Sales in the Porsche group – excluding VW – fell 15%.