Unlikely Bedfellows?

Because of the unusual financial times and the near collapse of the car market, Porsche and Volkswagen have decided to merge:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8036748.stm

In their own rights both companies are massive worldwide brands that represent different parts of the car market. Porsche has built a formidable reputation in the sports car market and VW has always had a solid, reliable, mid range persona built around German reliability. It shows the depths to which the car market has sunk that they now consider their futures together under the same roof rather than apart with their own unique identities. For my mind this is a solid business decision that ensures the company(s) move forward and don't go the way of Chrysler and GM.

It does bring up the question of other unlikely alliances coming out of the current stormy economic climate. Microsoft has been flirting heavily with Yahoo! but that's not an altogether unholy alliance between companies with symbiotic problems in the marketplace. I still see a tie up between Apple and Nintendo on the cards, as they both look to strengthen their positions.

Some more potential partnerships could lay within the biofuels / renewables sectors as the creation of the infrastructure for the delivery of the new fuels to the garage forecourts becomes a more pressing problem. It really comes down to agendas and where companies need to strengthen ready for the inevitable commercial upturn.

Back to the Porsche / VW scenario it will be interesting to see how it works out, what the new company might be called, where its located and what brands out of the 10 that both companies control become the dominant ones.