Porsche chief leaving after 'differences'

(First Edition)

STUTTGART (Reuter) - The German sports car maker Porsche said yesterday that the management board chairman, Arno Bohn, would leave the company on 30 September due to differences of opinion over business.

Porsche said Mr Bohn's departure was mutually agreed. Its supervisory board will propose Wendelin Wiedeking as management board spokesman at its meeting tomorrow.

The departure of Mr Bohn comes only six months after the supervisory board, in a dramatic turnround, extended his contract for three years to the end of 1995.

Initially the board had failed to extend Mr Bohn's contract in mid-February. The move illustrated dissatisfaction by the owners with his performance.

But this decision unleashed harsh criticism of the owners by Porsche workers and especially against the supervisory board chairman, Ferdinand Porsche. The board had offered Mr Bohn's job to Wolfgang Reitzle, head of development at BMW, but Mr Reitzle declined the offer.

The Porsche and Piech families own all of Porsche's voting shares and 40 per cent of the traded preference shares.