Volkswagen Ag

I would like many things. I would like a large four-bedroom ranch home to fall on Jon and Kate. I would like my life to be more like Bollywood. I wish my hair could talk. These things are not going to happen. Indeed, I could spend this column and the next listing all the things I desire but am not going to get: a 1-meter telescope; a poodle with a knowledge of fine wine. Somebody stop me.

Even by the dire standards of the current market, the new VW Routan minivan appears to be nailed to the showroom floor. A warmed-over version of the Chrysler Town & Country/Dodge Caravan, the Routan had chalked up a meager 5,582 sales as of April 20, according to Automotive News, and Routan production at Chrysler's Windsor, Canada, facility is now on indefinite hiatus, in roughly the same way that John DeLorean is taking a sabbatical from breathing.

Largely overlooked in the Detroit Big Three death watch/three-ring circus has been one of the most incredible examples of clever stock trading in modern history. And it happened at a car company. Last month, Porsche surprised the world by announcing it had acquired a nearly 43% stake in Volkswagen with an option to buy 32% more. Without anybody noticing, wee little Porsche, maker of scarcely 100,000 cars a year, had cornered a 75% position in VW, which cranks out nearly 6 million vehicles.

Volkswagen's annual profit more than doubled in 2006, with a gain on the sale of a car rental business helping to offset steep restructuring costs, including thousands of job cuts. The German automaker said it earned 2.75 billion euros ($3.61 billion) in 2006, compared with 1.12 billion euros in 2005. Sales rose 11% to 104.9 billion euros from 94 billion euros a year earlier.

Prestige automaker Porsche will increase its stake in Volkswagen, maker of the Beetle, Golf and Jetta, in a widely expected move aimed at keeping the company firmly in German hands. A spokesman for Porsche said the company did not plan to acquire Volkswagen, Europe's biggest carmaker, which is partly owned by the state of Lower Saxony and is looked to as both an industrial powerhouse and a major provider of jobs.

Volkswagen is recalling its 2006 Jetta cars with 2.5-liter gasoline engines in the U.S. and Canada because a tab on the windshield-wiper fluid container can rub against a fuel line, possibly causing a leak and fire. The recall affects about 58,900 cars in the U.S. and will begin in August, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said. An additional 3,000 Jettas are being called back in Canada.

Computer maker Apple Inc. and German automaker Volkswagen are discussing the possibility of building an "iCar" that would feature products by the producer of the ubiquitous iPod personal music player. Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs and Volkswagen CEO Martin Winterkorn met several days ago in California and plan to meet for further discussions, said Hans-Gerd Bode, a spokesman for VW. There are "scores of ideas" but few concrete plans at this point, Bode said.

Sports-car maker Porsche has an open road to make another bid for Volkswagen now that the European Union's highest court struck down the nearly 50-year-old "VW law" enacted to protect Europe's largest automaker from a hostile takeover. Tuesday's ruling will reverberate across Europe, where many governments have attempted to protect companies they see as vital to their economies from being bought, particularly by foreign investors.

German automaker Volkswagen said its third-quarter profit soared on improved sales in Asia, Europe and South America, along with lower costs for building cars. The company earned 947 million euros ($1.35 million) in the period, compared with 23 million euros a year earlier, beating the 865 million euros that analysts polled by Dow Jones Newswires had predicted. Last year's earnings report included costs from job cuts and streamlining production. Sales rose nearly 4% to 26.1 billion euros ($37.