The family shareholders of the car seller have resolved to exercise the put option to sell the business at a fixed price of €3.3 billion.

The acquisition will probably be completed during the first half of 2011 but no later than 30 September 2011.

In a statement, Volkswagen said that the decision by the company's current owners, the Porsche and Piëch families, to sell is a clear commitment to implementing an integrated automotive group.

It added that the acquisition significantly strengthens the company’s own trade activities.

PHS has a particularly strong presence in Austria, Western Europe and South Eastern Europe as well as China and employs some 20,300 people. In the 2009/10 financial year (to March 31), unit sales of 421,000 new vehicles generated sales revenue of €12.2 billion.

'Porsche Holding Salzburg is a highly profitable and efficient automobile trade company. PHS sets the benchmark for our industry in key areas of the automobile trade such as customer orientation,' said Dr Martin Winterkorn, CEO of Volkswagen Aktiengesellschaft.