London, July 23(ANI): The chief executive of Porsche, Wendelin Wiedeking, has decided to step down from the German luxury carmaker in a decision which could speed up Porsche’s merger with Volkswagen.

The 56 year-old, who held the helm of Porsche for 16 years, is leaving the company immediately and would be followed out of the boardroom by Holger Haerter, Porsche’s chief financial officer, The Telegraph reports.

Wiedeking, one of Germany’s best-known business leaders, was against selling Porsche to larger rival -Volkswagen- and had instead begun building a stake in Volkswagen, which had irked Ferdinand Piech, Volkswagen’s chairman and a member of the family that controls Porsche.

“Wiedeking’s course has split the families and caused major irritations in Porsche’s working ties with VW. He has no place in a combined VW-Porsche carmaker,” said Stefan Bratzel, head of the Center of Automotive Research Institute.

Michael Macht, Porsche’s head of production, would replace Wiedeking. (ANI)