Porsche IPO Blazes Trail for Other Auto Makers

Investors don’t always hate traditional car makers, it turns out. From Germany to Detroit, the whole auto industry needs to learn from the success of Porsche’s initial public offering.

Shares in the sports car brand were essentially flat on their first trading day Thursday, giving it a market value of about €75 billion, equivalent to roughly $73.5 billion. Parent company Volkswagen and its advisers were trying to pull off a balancing act with the IPO price.