Asked last Saturday whether the two families have reached a decision for Thursday's board meeting, Porsche spokesman Anton Hunger said "we have not been informed of one," adding that the Spiegel report was speculation.

Separately, rival German weekly magazine Focus reported that VW's chairman and part-owner of Porsche SE, Ferdinand Piech, plans to remove Wiedeking on Thursday from the influential six-man steering committee on the VW supervisory board.

The vacancy could open up the opportunity for Piech's cousin and rival, Wolfgang Porsche, VW supervisory board member and Porsche SE chairman, to replace Wiedeking in the committee as a representative of his side of the family.

Ferdinand Porsche, the grandfather of both Wolfgang Porsche and Ferdinand Piech, was the designer of the Beetle and founder of VW.

(Shanghai Daily July 20, 2009)