The largest car company in Europe, Volkswagen AG, will add two further brands to its group after buying the Porsche SE sports car business. The collection of marques, which now include Audi, Skoda and Seat will swell to as many as a dozen.

The chairman of the Supervisory Board, Ferdinand Piech, was reported at the Frankfurt Motor Show as commenting that the expansion is likely. The Porsche purchase was a turnaround deal, following a failed takeover of VW by Porsche.

The European car market is in a state of consolidation, with a major player like VW possibly turning their hungry eye to smaller brands hurt by falling sales. However, VW are not thought to wish to buy Suzuki Motor Corp, nor Ducati Motor Holding SpA.

CEO Martin Winterkorn was reported as commenting: The difficult crisis of the automobile industry is not yet over. Signs are growing that the market has bottomed out. The industry can look ahead with cautious optimism.