One is Germany’s highest-paid boss while the other is arguably the country’s most powerful chairman. One is extrovert, brash and focused on profitability while the other is intensely private, fixated on building the best car and ensuring his family’s legacy.

Wendelin Wiedeking, Porsche’s chief executive, who earns an estimated €25m ($33m) annually and Ferdinand Piëch, a controlling shareholder in the sports carmaker as well as chairman of Volkswagen, make for an odd couple. But they are at the centre of one of the most extraordinary escapades in recent corporate history.