Volkswagen, the world's third-largest automaker according to mid-year global rankings, is based in Wolfsburg, in Lower Saxony. Its unions also opposes a takeover by the much smaller, family-controlled Porsche firm, which is based in Stuttgart. Porsche said in a statement Tuesday that it had acquired a further 14.4 million VW shares, or 4.9 percent, and now held 35.1 percent of the voting rights. Porsche also offered to buy the tiny minority of shares in premium automaker Audi that VW does not own, but said it intended to resell that stock eventually to VW. 'Our goal continues to be to increase our stake in Volkswagen to more than 50 percent,' Porsche CEO Wendelin Wiedeking said in the statement. 'Today's step is a further milestone along this road.' Porsche has strong ties to Volkswagen -- whose first car, the original Beetle, was designed by Ferdinand Porsche. His grandson, Ferdinand Pich, is currently chairman of VW's supervisory board and was formerly CEO. But analysts say members of the founding families seem to be fighting among themselves, too. On Friday, Ferdinand Pich abstained from a vote at VW's supervisory board to establish the nature of the relationship between Porsche and VW's Audi brand -- a move that allowed the state and worker representatives to defeat the Porsche representatives and approve a measure requiring Porsche to seek board approval for any cooperation projects between Porsche and Audi. 'This is precisely the kind of influence that Porsche wants to see curtailed at VW so that it can exert full management influence over the company. Pich's decision to abstain effectively ensured that Porsche would lose the vote,' Global Insight analyst Tim Urquhart wrote in a report. 'The move suggests that there is a growing rift within the Porsche family over the direction in which the takeover of VW is heading.' Porsche, which makes the legendary 911 sports car, began acquiring VW shares three years ago after the European Commission took aim at a German law that had allowed Lower Saxony to control the VW board with a 20 percent stake. In March, Porsche's supervisory board, headed by Wolfgang Porsche, approved a plan to acquire a majority stake in VW. Porsche has been feuding since then with Lower Saxony, while the carmakers' unions also are quarreling over board representation. 'We're looking forward to continuing and deepening the trustful cooperation with the management of Volkswagen and hope for a swift resolution of the conflict between labor representatives of Porsche and VW,' Wiedeking said. Now that Porsche's stake has exceeded the 35 percent threshold, VW employee representatives are entitled to representation on the Porsche SE supervisory board and its works council. Wiedeking said he was confident that the cooperation between the employee representatives of Porsche and Volkswagen in both bodies would help them develop a better understanding of each other's positions. As a result of the new shareholder structure, Porsche also is required by law to submit a formal mandatory offer for VW's Audi AG subsidiary based in Ingolstadt. Volkswagen has stated that it will not be accepting the offer for its 99.14 per cent of Audi. So in effect, Porsche will be offering to buy only 370,000 Audi shares, worth around $260 million based on Monday's share price. 'We regard Audi as an integral part of the Volkswagen group and have no interest in removing the company from the group structure,' Wiedeking said. Porsche shares, which have fallen 42 percent this year, were upgraded to outperform from underperform on Tuesday by investment firm Credit Suisse Group. It said in a research note that Volkswagen was 'probably the best- positioned European carmaker, benefiting from a balanced regional mix, strong brand equity and economies of scale.'