WHAT A TIME it’s been for Porsche lately. First the German supercar manufacturer began circling to take over its Volkswagen parent, and then, thanks to the global financial meltdown and finding itself stumbling for funds, the two began discussing a merger.

More recently, those merger talks were put on hold, with Volkswagen declaring Porsche unready for such a step.

Now, German magazine Der Spiegel is reporting that Porsche has found itself $15.3 billion in debt due to its recent manoeuvring to garner a 51 percent majority share in Volkswagen.

Worse still, the report claims the company is $4.4 billion short of the funds needed to keep its operations rolling, asking the German government for $179 million in emergency short term loans.

According to Der Spiegel, the situation at Porsche is so bleak that the company came desperately close to bankruptcy for a period in early March.

It has to be said that without any official acknowledgement from either Porsche of Volkswagen, it’s difficult to ascertain the accuracy of the report.

According to UK paper The Telegraph, Porsche is in talks with the Bank of Tokyo for a $1.3b loan, in addition to the help it has requested from the German Government.

This WILL be a case of “watch this space”.