When Wendelin Wiedeking, chief executive of the Porsche sports car company, became Europe’s highest-paid businessman last year by earning an estimated €67m, the head of a rival German carmaker shook his head in disgust. “Everyone has the right to earn decent money. But €67m? That is obscene. It goes against every principle of social equality we have,” the chief executive said. “I just cannot understand how he can justify earning so much more than the normal worker.”