Ferdinand Piëch
Ferdinand Piëch | |
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– cousin |
Ferdinand Karl Piëch (German pronunciation:
A grandson of Ferdinand Porsche, Piëch started his career at Porsche, before leaving for Audi after an agreement that no member of the Porsche or Piëch families should be involved in the day-to-day operations of the Porsche company. Piëch eventually became the head of Audi, where he is credited with evolving and growing Audi into a competitor to equal Mercedes-Benz and BMW, thanks in part to innovative designs such as the Quattro and 100. In 1993, Piëch became the chairman and CEO of Volkswagen Group, which he is credited with turning into the large conglomerate it is today; He oversaw the purchase of Lamborghini and Bentley, as well as the founding of
Educated as an engineer, Piëch influenced the development of numerous significant cars including the Porsche 911, Porsche 917, Audi Quattro and notably, the Bugatti Veyron, which as of 2012 was the fastest, most powerful and most expensive road legal automobile ever built. Due to his influence on the automobile industry, Piëch was named the Car Executive of the Century in 1999[5] and was inducted into the Automotive Hall of Fame in 2014.
Biography
Piëch was born in Vienna, Austria, to Louise (née Porsche; Ferdinand's daughter) and Anton Piëch, a lawyer. He studied at the Lyceum Alpinum Zuoz and graduated from the ETH Zurich, Switzerland, in 1962, with a degree in mechanical engineering, having written a master thesis about the development of a Formula One (F1) engine. At the same time, Porsche was involved in F1 and developed an 8-cylinder engine for the Porsche 804.
From 1963 to 1971, he worked at Porsche in Stuttgart, on the development of the Porsche 906 and following models that led to the successful Porsche 917. In 1972, he moved to Audi in Ingolstadt. Starting from 1975, he was manager of technological engineering, being responsible for the concepts of many Audi models from the 1970s and 1980s, including the Audi 80, Audi 100 and the Audi V8. He celebrated his 40th birthday on 17 April 1977 with a ball at which guests included Giorgetto Giugiaro and at which the staff of the Porsche Hotel presented him with an Audi 80 that was just 40 cm (16 in) long and constructed of marzipan.[6] In 1977 he also initiated the development of a car for the World Rally Championship, resulting in the four-wheel drive Audi Quattro. The engine used in the Quattro model was a turbocharged inline-5 cylinder unit.
Piëch held a small engineering company in the time between leaving Porsche AG and joining Audi, and while there, he developed a 5-cylinder in-line diesel engine for Mercedes-Benz. He picked up the concept again after moving to Audi, because there was a market demand for engines with more than 4 cylinders. At the time, Audi (and the Audi-derived VW Passat/Santana model range) used longitudinally mounted inline engines and front wheel drive. More conservative layouts with 6 cylinders were rejected because of engineering and production costs (V6 engine) or packaging requirements (straight 6 did not fit because front wheel drive required that it be mounted in front of the axle).
In 1993, Piëch moved to
While head of Volkswagen Group, Piëch was known for his aggressive moves into other markets. He drove the Volkswagen and Audi brands upmarket with great success. Piëch also pursued other
What was not a failure, however, was his effort to revitalize Volkswagen in North America. Hahn's previous efforts to regain market share in North America – which he had built up as the head of Volkswagen of America from 1958 to 1965 – were unsuccessful, but Piëch helped reverse VW's fortunes by the decision to manufacture the Volkswagen New Beetle, the introduction of which in 1998 gave Volkswagen of America a much needed impulse, after years of selling competent, but bland offerings in the US.
Due to his continued influence in the auto industry,
Engineering
At Porsche, Piëch triggered significant changes in the company's policy. For example, the position of drivers in
Porsche ownership
Piëch owned a significant share of Porsche, exactly 10%. In order to prevent discussions among the many family members, a policy was established in early 1972 that no
Personal life
Piëch reportedly had
Piëch collapsed suddenly on 25 August 2019 while having dinner with his wife in Aschau near
Personality and management style
An engineer by trade, Ferdinand Piëch was both known for his intricate involvement in product development from a technical standpoint, as well as his domineering personality. Piëch has been behind the development of multiple significant and influential automobiles, including the Porsche 911, Third generation (C3) Audi 100, Audi Quattro and Bugatti Veyron. Automotive blog Jalopnik said of Piëch, "He is the mad genius behind much of Porsche and Audi's racing successes as well as VW's all-out engineering and luxury push from the early 2000s. That's what gave us cars like the Bugatti Veyron and the 12-cylinder VW Phaeton."[12] Piëch is both noted for turning the Audi brand from an also-ran economy car builder to one of the most respected luxury brands in the world, as well as rescuing Volkswagen as a whole from near-bankruptcy and overseeing its transformation into the massive conglomerate it is today.[13] Fellow automotive executive Bob Lutz described Piëch as "one of the most successful leaders in the automotive business"[14] and "the greatest living product guy" in the automobile industry.[15] Automotive News described Piëch as "a world-class eccentric but a figure of transcendent importance in the history of cars and car companies" who has had "The strangest and possibly most significant automotive industry career this side of Henry Ford".[16] In their obituary, The Guardian said of Piëch, "His stewardship of VW has been indisputably successful. Piech will go down in history as an automotive legend, in the same class as Gottlieb Daimler, Henry Ford and Kiichiro Toyoda."[17]
Piëch has been described as being socially awkward and having an abrasive personality; some automotive journalists who have encountered Piëch described him as being uncomfortable to be around.
Piëch was widely interested in pushing technological boundaries in automotive development, especially as the head of Audi. Automotive News noted of this, "The company's slogan "Vorsprung durch Technik" was the personification of Piech — the belief that technology was the answer to all problems in the auto business. Audi was the test bed to prove his theory and the springboard for his ambition."[16] Piëch often spearheaded the development of audacious vehicles or oversaw business decision and strategies that baffled analysts, but still proved beneficial for the company as a whole.[13] In recounting some of the extraordinary vehicles Volkswagen put in production under Piëch's watch, Wired noted that he alone pushed the Bugatti Veyron supercar into production, despite objection from other executives as well as the fact that Volkswagen lost what is believed to be millions on every Veyron sold:[22] "Consider that for a moment. Long past the average retirement age, this gent greenlit one of the largest automotive losses in history and managed to keep his job. Moreover, he was hailed as a hero."[22]
An aggressive and demanding manager, Piëch was known for setting both lofty and extremely specific goals and standards for projects. An example of this is with the development of the
With a leadership style described as "old fashioned",
Awards
- Named Car Executive of the Century(1999)
- Wilhelm Exner Medal (2002).[28]
- Inducted into the Automotive Hall of Fame (2014)
Footnotes
Notes
- ^ Piech was correct; The Emperor would later have the sword examined by experts and they confirmed that it was fake.
References
- ^ "Ferdinand Piech resigns, ending an era at Volkswagen". Reuters. 25 April 2015. Archived from the original on 15 November 2015. Retrieved 1 July 2017.
- ^ a b "DGAP-Ad hoc: Volkswagen AG Vz. (VW AG)". finanzen.net. Archived from the original on 27 April 2015. Retrieved 25 April 2015.
- ^ "Ehemaliger VW-Chef Ferdinand Piëch ist tot". FOCUS Online (in German). Archived from the original on 26 August 2019. Retrieved 26 August 2019.
- ^ "Volkswagen chairman Ferdinand Piech quits in power struggle". BBC News. 25 April 2015. Archived from the original on 26 April 2015. Retrieved 25 April 2015.
- ^ Cobb, James G. (24 December 1999). "This Just In: Model T Gets Award". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 6 March 2009. Retrieved 8 May 2008.
- Auto, Motor und Sport. Heft 9 1977: Seite 7. 27 April 1977.
- ^ Kapoor, Rahul (27 August 2019). "Former VW head, Ferdinand Piech passes away: Here's how he turned the company from rags to riches". The Financial Express. Retrieved 30 August 2019.
- ^ Ferdinand Piëch new chairman of the Scania Board Archived 27 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine 24 May 2000, Scania.com.
- ^ a b c d e f g Ferdinand Piech – 2011 Man of the Year – Automobile Magazine Archived 19 November 2010 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved 16 November 2010.
- ^ a b "Ferdinand Piech, Longtime Volksawgen Patriarch Dies". Archived from the original on 27 August 2019. Retrieved 28 August 2019.
- ^ Ferdinand Piech, Long Time VW Patriarch Dies at 82
- ^ Orlove, Raphael (8 February 2017). "This Latest Revelation About Dieselgate Is Kind Of Insane". Jalopnik. Archived from the original on 16 July 2017. Retrieved 20 May 2019.
- ^ a b George, Patrick (28 April 2015). "The Mad Genius Of VW's Former Chairman And His Legacy Of Audacious Cars". Jalopnik. Archived from the original on 2 August 2019. Retrieved 20 May 2019.
- ^ a b c "Ferdinand K. Piech 2014 Induction Video". Archived from the original on 4 May 2016. Retrieved 20 May 2019 – via www.youtube.com.
- ^ a b "Bob Lutz on Ferdinand Piech - "An Autocrat's Autocrat"". Archived from the original on 12 December 2021 – via www.youtube.com.
- ^ a b "A bitter end for Ferdinand Piech". Automotive News. 27 March 2017.
- ^ a b c Ferdinand Piech, Porche Partiarch and VW Saviour Dies at 82
- ^ a b John Phillips: We're Not Done With You Yet, Piëch
- ^ A Bitter End For Ferdinand Piech
- ^ a b Dirty Money Season 1, episode 1, "Hard NOx". Released January 26, 2018.
- ^ ISBN 978-0385467773.
- ^ a b c Smith, Sam (23 April 2015). "The Crazy Schemes of the World's Most Surprising Car Exec". Wired. Archived from the original on 23 December 2016. Retrieved 20 May 2019 – via www.wired.com.
- ^ "Volkswagen 2009 Phaeton - Beijing show: VW facelifts Phaeton – again". GoAuto. GoAutoMedia. 23 April 2010. Archived from the original on 1 April 2012. Retrieved 4 October 2010.
- ^ Top Gear Series 2 Episode 10, July 20, 2003
- ^ a b One Man Established the Culture That Led to VW's Emissions Scandal
- ^ Volkswagen's Uniquely Awful Governance At Fault in Emissions Scandal
- ^ Takaki Nakanishi (21 January 2016). "スズキの強運、宿敵の失脚を経てVWに逆転勝訴" [Good luck of Suzuki: Reverse victory after the enemy Piëch fell from power]. The Nikkei (in Japanese). Retrieved 18 March 2021.
- ^ Editor, ÖGV. (2015). Wilhelm Exner Medal. Austrian Trade Association. ÖGV. Austria.