Berlin  - Hopes of an early end to the power struggle over leading German carmakers Volkswagen and Porsche appear to be fading with company sources telling the German Press Agency dpa Monday that it could take until the end of the month for a resolution to emerge.

At separate meetings on Thursday, the Porsche and Volkswagen boards had been expected to sign off on a plan spearheaded by VW supervisory board chairman Ferdinand Piech, which would have lead to VW taking over the luxury sports carmaker in two steps.

But dpa has learnt that the two board meetings this week are unlikely to reach a final decision on the increasingly rancorous merger battle and that this will be delayed until the end of the month.

The prospects that the decision on the merger plan, which was first outlined in May, could be postponed until board meetings set down for the end of the month sent VW shares tumbling by more than 8 per cent in early trading Monday. (dpa)