Volkswagen’s chairman issued a clear signal that the volume carmaker was in the driving seat of its proposed merger with Porsche as Germany’s financial watchdog launched another market manipulation probe against the sports car maker.

Ferdinand Piëch, VW chairman, said it had been decided that the headquarters of the combined group – which he proposed be named Auto Union after the carmaker created by the merger of several brands during the Great Depression – would be in Wolfsburg, where VW is based.