Europe's largest carmaker, Volkswagen, has said it is to buy 49.9% of sports car maker¹ Porsche by the end of 2009 for about 3.9bn euros (£3.54bn;$5.8bn).

欧洲最大的汽车生产商大众2009年年底以前将要以39亿欧元购买跑车生产商保时捷49.9%的股份。

Porsche failed in an attempt to take over VW

In August VW and Porsche agreed the details by which VW will merge² with（与……合并） its German compatriot（同胞） by 2011.

VW had initially³ been set to buy a 42% stake in Porsche by the end of this year for 3.3bn euros.

The deal will end months of acrimony（严厉，辛辣） between the two firms, and would end Porsche's failed efforts to buy VW.

Funding failure

Over the past year Porsche built up major debts to get a 51% stake in VW, only to fall short of the required 75% when it could not raise more funds due to the impact of both the global credit crunch⁴（全球信贷紧缩） and the slump⁵ in global car sales.

Porsche's failure to buy VW saw the firm's former chief executive Wendelin Wiedeking and financial director Holger Haerter resign this summer.

Porsche is set to become the 10th brand in the VW family, joining the likes of Audi, Seat and Skoda.