The midyear in autos: 10 ups and downs

Upside: Volkswagen wraps up its purchase of Porsche in July more quickly than expected in a deal totaling $11 billion. That values each of Porsche's 2011 sales at $95,000 per vehicle. By comparison, GM's market capitalization of $30 billion values each of its 2011 sales at $3,333 a pop.

Downside: Previous collaborations between the two automakers infuriated Porsche purists. There was the ill-fated Porsche 914, which had a VW engine better suited for a lawnmower. The front-engine 924 and 944, meanwhile, used a number of Audi components and were built in an Audi factory.

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