????沒有什么比生日派對更讓人開心了。保時捷（Porsche）正在慶祝它的傳奇跑車保時捷911面世50周年，人們的注意力也暫時從保時捷與對沖基金的官司中轉移了出來。

????1963年，保時捷在法蘭克福車展上發布了第一款911跑車。這款車型也是保時捷356的后續車型。[有些人可能還記得356跑車的高速版本，它也是美國影星簡?方達在1978年的電影《回家》（Coming Home）中送給她丈夫的禮物。】1963年的時候，沒人能想到911跑車后來會成為時尚和極致工藝的縮影。它甚至成了一個身份的象征，是醫生、律師、投行家等成功人士和富人的專寵。

????911系列中最高檔的一款稱做保時捷GT3，起價大約13萬美元。如果選擇9,000美元的陶瓷剎車盤，價格可能還會再高上2到3萬美元。除了它的性能和工藝之外，很多人認為這款車的外型也非常勻稱，比例協調，姿態優美。《人車志》（Car and Driver ）雜志的前主編薩巴?瑟熱曾說過：“它的外觀幾十年來一脈相承，與其它汽車相比，911跑車展示了鮮明的品牌化設計的好處。”

????由于4年前保時捷謀求收購大眾汽車公司（Volkswagen）的交易半路流產，現在全球各大對沖基金都在德國起訴保時捷控股公司，要求該公司支付總價50多億美元的罰金。現在保時捷反倒被大眾收購了，但是關于誰必須為保時捷收購大眾汽車失敗買單的爭論卻塵囂塵上。保時捷公司的前任財務總監和CEO由于涉嫌操縱市場而雙雙被告上法庭，要求追究他們的刑事責任。

????毫無疑問，很多起訴保時捷和大眾汽車的對沖基金經理自己就開著保時捷911。他們要么開著它上班，要么周末開著它度假。他們在法庭上爭論說，保時捷沒有盡到義務，向公眾披露它當初收購大眾汽車股票的原因。

????而大眾汽車通過出人意料的手段收購保時捷，實現了建立高中低檔結合的全系列汽車品牌的戰略，為它帶來了效益和規模經濟。大眾汽車宣布，它計劃在2018年前成為全球第一大汽車品牌。《人車志》前主編瑟熱說：“盡管保時捷的規模不算很大，但是它填補了大眾的中高檔品牌奧迪（Audi）與最高檔品牌蘭博基尼（Lamborghini）和布加迪（Bugatti）之間的空白。更重要的是，保時捷突出了大眾汽車的德國血統。”

????如果大眾汽車的監事會主席費迪南?皮耶希決定今年為保時捷911點燃生日蠟燭的話，他肯定會得到一種特殊的滿足感。皮耶希也是保時捷家族的一員，而且從年輕時起就在保時捷公司工作。由于與表兄弟不睦，皮耶希出走保時捷，一開始他去了奧迪，后來又去了大眾。現在，由他的先人費迪南德?保時捷于1931年創立的保時捷公司終于被他收入囊中，同樣任他發號施令的，還有一個更大的汽車帝國。（財富中文網）

????譯者：樸成奎

????Nothing like a birthday party to cheer things up. Porsche is celebrating the 50th anniversary of its legendary 911 sports car, providing a brief and fleeting distraction from mounting litigation by hedge funds.

????In 1963 the German automaker introduced the first 911 at the Frankfurt Motor Show, the successor to Porsche's 356. (Some may remember the Speedster version of the 356 as Jane Fonda's gift to her husband in the 1978 film Coming Home.) No one in 1963 could have guessed how much the 911 would come to epitomize elite style and engineering. The 911 grew into a status symbol -- eventually a cliché -- for doctors, lawyers, and investment bankers of a certain mindset and pocketbook.

????The top-of-the-line version of the 911, which Porsche calls GT3, starts at about $130,000 for the base model. Popular options such as the $9,000 ceramic brakes can add another $20,000 or $30,000 to the sticker. Besides the 911's performance and engineering, the design of the exterior appeared to many to be balanced, proportional, poised. "With its consistent look over the decades, the 911 has demonstrated, more than any other car, the benefit of clear, brand-specific design," said CsabaCsere, former editor-in-chief of Car and Driver magazine.

????Hedge funds worldwide are suing Porsche SE in Germany, seeking more than $5 billion over the automaker's abortive bid four years ago to take over Volkswagen AG. VW turned the tables and now controls Porsche -- but the legal wrangling over who must pay for the fiasco is mounting. The former chief financial officer and CEO of Porsche are facing criminal charges for market manipulation.

????No doubt a few of the same hedge fund managers suing Porsche -- VW, actually, now that the German automaker owns the sports car company -- are driving 911s, either to their Wall Street offices or on the weekends. They're arguing in court that Porsche wasn't clear, as was its obligation, to disclose why it was buying VW stock.

????For VW, gaining control of Porsche through unexpected means played into its overall strategy of assembling an array of automotive brands, which create efficiencies and economies of scale. VW has declared it intends to be the No. 1 global automaker in terms of units sold by 2018. "While Porsche's volume is not large," Csere said, "it fills the niche between Audi and VW's exotic Lamborghini and Bugatti brands. Moreover, Porsche emphasizes the German heritage of the parent company."

????Ferdinand Pi?ch, the chairman of VW's supervisory board, can gain special satisfaction if he decides to light birthday candles for the 911 this year. He is a member of the Porsche family and worked at the company as a young man. Tension with his cousins led to his exit and a career first at Audi, then at VW. Now Piech wields the ultimate power over what became the company his ancestor Ferdinand Porsche started in 1931 -- and a much larger automotive empire as well.