FACTBOX: Key players in the Porsche/VW saga

(Reuters) - Sportscar maker Porsche is entering the final stretch of negotiations to create a combined auto group with mass-market rival Volkswagen, having sacked its chief executive and announced plans to raise capital.

Below are the key players in the power struggle who will shape a new German car empire:

* VW CHAIRMAN FERDINAND PIECH:

-- Piech is the grandson of Ferdinand Porsche, Porsche's founder who invented the iconic Volkswagen Beetle, and a member of the extended family that controls 100 percent of Porsche's voting stock.

-- Piech is an engineer who held senior positions at Volkswagen, Porsche and Audi before becoming VW's CEO in 1993 and chairman in 2002.

-- Piech is a master tactician with a record of surprise moves that have given him huge influence at Europe's largest carmaker. His relationship with the Porsche clan has often been rocky, however.

-- Piech often relies on influential labor leaders -- who hold half of VW's board seats -- to push through deals, and has tried to minimize job cuts, at times overruling his own managers.

For a NEWSMAKER profile of Piech, click on

* PORSCHE CEO WENDELIN WIEDEKING:

-- Wiedeking was forced early on Thursday to step down, and sent off with a pay-off of 50 million euros, half of which he said he would invest in a new foundation to help ensure a "socially just development" of Porsche's production sites.

-- Under Wiedeking's leadership, Porsche was catapulted from near bankruptcy in 1992 into the world's most profitable car maker, with annual production of around 100,000 vehicles.

-- A favorite of Porsche Chairman Wolfgang Porsche, Piech's cousin, Wiedeking is the visionary behind the sportscar maker's failed takeover of Volkswagen but was ultimately defeated in the power struggle.

-- The credit crisis helped cripple Porsche's ability to pay down more than 10 billion euros in debt, and then Wiedeking devised the plan of striking a deal for the Gulf state of Qatar to buy a stake in Porsche or in Volkswagen or in both companies.

For a NEWSMAKER profile of Wiedeking, click on

* PORSCHE CHAIRMAN WOLFGANG PORSCHE:

-- After backing Wiedeking's takeover attempt of VW, Wolfgang Porsche is now trying to defend the Stuttgart-based automaker's autonomy as it struggles to pay down its debt.

-- It was chairman Wolfgang Porsche who called an extraordinary supervisory board meeting to discuss the sale of a stake in Porsche SE to Qatar worth over 5 billion euros.

-- Wolfgang Porsche is Piech's cousin and represents the rival faction in the two families that control all of the voting stock in Porsche Automobil Holding SE.

-- The manager is a traditionalist who keeps the same Stuttgart office in the factory where his grandfather and company founder Ferdinand Porsche worked.

* VW CEO MARTIN WINTERKORN:

-- Ferdinand Piech's loyal lieutenant became chief executive of Volkswagen in 2007 when his predecessor, Bernd Pischetsrieder, ran foul of the powerful chairman.

-- Apart from overseeing the design of the VW Golf, the passionate engineer ran Piech's pet project -- developing the VW Phaeton executive saloon -- which ended as an expensive flop.

-- The love of technology that Winterkorn shared with his mentor served him better at Audi, where premium car buyers were keen to pay more for the latest in cutting-edge design.

-- Piech named his ally Winterkorn as his candidate to head the merged group last May.

* VW WORKS COUNCIL HEAD BERND OSTERLOH:

-- Osterloh became Volkswagen's most powerful labor leader in 2005, when he was named head of the VW Works Council. He is an important force on VW's supervisory board. The labor representatives who sit on the board are generally allied with Piech.

-- Osterloh said at the end of May 2009 that he had little faith in Porsche's two top managers and said unions were still skeptical about merging the carmakers.

* LOWER SAXONY PREMIER CHRISTIAN WULFF:

-- Wulff is a star in Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats party and has been premier of VW's home state of Lower Saxony for six years.

-- Wulff is a key figure in the Porsche/VW merger talks because he controls the state's blocking minority stake in Volkswagen, giving it veto power over any changes at the carmaker.

-- Wulff has led the campaign to preserve Germany's VW Law, which enshrines the state's role in the carmaker, despite objections from the European Commission that it blocks the free flow of capital. Piech has called a strategic truce with Wulff, to mount a campaign to force the two men's common opponents at Porsche into submission.

-- Wulff said last month he felt a "certain irritation" after Porsche accused Volkswagen and Lower Saxony of holding a gun to its head to agree to a deal quickly.

* INCOMING PORSCHE AG CEO MICHAEL MACHT

-- Macht is replacing Wiedeking as CEO of Porsche AG with immediate effect and will oversee production and technology matters at parent Porsche SE.

-- The native of Porsche's hometown Stuttgart has been overseeing production at Porsche since 1998, moving up the ranks to the management board within eight years at the company.

-- Macht introduced the Japanese Kaizen method of management at Porsche, a move that was so successful that Wiedeking founded Porsche Consulting in 1994 and appointed Macht to head up the new unit.

For a TIMELINE of the Porsche/VW saga, click on

(Reporting by Edward Taylor, Christiaan Hetzner and Michael Shields; Additional writing and editing by David Cutler, London Editorial Reference Unit)