Wendelin Wiedeking, the chief executive of Porsche, has become one of the best paid executives in Europe after it emerged yesterday that last year he earned between €60 million and €70 million (£43 million to £50 million).

Porsche refuses to reveal individual executive pay, but as a whole the management board was paid €113 million in the year to July 2007, up from €42 million the year before.

Mr Wiedeking is perceived as a corporate hero in Germany, having helped oversee a surging share price that has risen from around €252 in 2003 to almost €1,600. He is also spearheading the process of increasing the company’s stake in Volkswagen, its larger German rival.

Yesterday, Mr Wiedeking said that workers had also benefited from a rise in bonuses and shareholders had enjoyed a rising dividend.

Over the period, pre-tax profits at the luxury car group rose from €2.1 billion to €5.9 billion. Yesterday, shares in the German group jumped 9 per cent.

Unveiling a 15 per cent rise in revenues for the first four months of its financial year, the group also boasted that it has managed its currency portfolio so well that it has doubled the length of time for which it is hedged against the US dollar, which it believes will fall to around $1.60 against the euro in the next few months.

Porsche said that sales in North America in the four-month period had jumped almost 14 per cent with the Cayenne sport utility vehicle benefiting from a 76 per cent rise in sales globally. Sales of the Boxter, once the choice of the yuppie, fell 17 per cent to 6,500 vehicles.

Holger Haerter, chief financial officer, said he expected profits in the year ending in July 2008 to be “very good” after a “very satisfying” performance from August to the end of November.

Mr Wiedeking refused yesterday to say when the group would increase its stake in Volkswagen. Currently, Porsche has a 31 per cent holding and plans to increase that to more than 50 per cent provided that a law capping its voting rights is overturned. German unions fear that their influence will be diluted once Porsche expands its stake.

Mr Wiedeking said: “None of the players knows how many moves will still be required and how long it will take until the game is finally over.”

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