Ferdinand Karl Piëch (German pronunciation: [ˈfɛʁdinant ˈpiːɛç] ; 17 April 1937 – 25 August 2019)[3] was an Austrian business magnate, engineer, and executive who held the positions of chairman of the executive board (Vorstandsvorsitzender) of the Volkswagen Group from 1993 to 2002, and chairman of the supervisory board (Aufsichtsratsvorsitzender) from 2002 to 2015.[2]
Piëch was pivotal in the advancement of technologies such as the TDI engine and the Quattro all-wheel-drive system, both of which played crucial roles in Volkswagen's success in the automotive industry. His enduring legacy as one of Germany's most respected engineers is underscored by his influence on the development of the MQB platform.[4]
A grandson of Ferdinand Porsche, Piëch began his career at Porsche before moving to Audi, following an agreement that no member of the Porsche or Piëch families would be directly involved in Porsche's daily operations. At Audi, Piëch was instrumental in transforming the brand into a formidable competitor to Mercedes-Benz and BMW, thanks to groundbreaking models like the Audi Quattro and the Audi 100.
Trained as an engineer, Piëch had a profound impact on the design and engineering of several iconic vehicles, including the Porsche 911, Porsche 917, Audi Quattro, and most notably the Bugatti Veyron, which, as of 2012, held the title of the fastest, most powerful, and most expensive road-legal car ever produced. Due to his significant contributions to the automotive industry, Piëch was named "Car Executive of the Century" in 1999[5] and was inducted into the Automotive Hall of Fame in 2014.
Although Volkswagen's policy required Piëch to retire at the age of 65, he remained on the Supervisory Board and continued to shape the company's strategic direction until his resignation on 25 April 2015.[6] He served during the Volkswagen emissions scandal. Though not personally implicated, it was widely recognized that he "presided over the culture that allowed [the defeat devices] to be installed."[7]
Piëch was born in Vienna, Austria, to Louise (née Porsche; daughter of Ferdinand Porsche) and Anton Piëch, a lawyer. He studied at the Lyceum Alpinum Zuoz and graduated in 1962 from ETH Zurich in Switzerland with a degree in mechanical engineering, having written a master’s thesis on the development of a Formula One (F1) engine. At the same time, Porsche was involved in F1, developing an eight-cylinder engine for the Porsche 804.
From 1963 to 1971, Piëch worked at Porsche in Stuttgart, where he was involved in the development of the Porsche 906 and subsequent models, including the successful Porsche 917. In 1972, he joined Audi in Ingolstadt. By 1975, he had become manager of technological engineering, where he was responsible for the design concepts behind many Audi models from the 1970s and 1980s, including the Audi 80, Audi 100, and Audi V8. He celebrated his 40th birthday on 17 April 1977 with a grand ball, attended by guests such as Giorgetto Giugiaro. At the event, the staff of the Porsche Hotel presented him with an Audi 80 constructed entirely out of marzipan and measuring just 40 cm (16 in) in length.[8] In the same year, he initiated the development of a car for the World Rally Championship, which led to the creation of the Audi Quattro with its four-wheel drive system. The Quattro model used a turbocharged inline-five-cylinder engine.
Between his departure from Porsche and his move to Audi, Piëch ran a small engineering company, during which time he developed a five-cylinder in-line diesel engine for Mercedes-Benz. Upon joining Audi, he revisited this concept, as market demand for engines with more than four cylinders was rising. At the time, Audi (and the Audi-derived VW Passat/Santana model range) used longitudinally mounted inline engines and front-wheel drive. More conventional layouts with six cylinders, such as a V6 engine or a straight-six, were dismissed due to production costs or packaging limitations, as the latter would not fit with front-wheel drive configurations.
In 1993, Piëch moved to the parent company of Volkswagen AG, becoming the Chairman of the Board of Management, succeeding Carl Hahn. Volkswagen was on the brink of bankruptcy at that time, but Piëch played a central role in orchestrating a dramatic turnaround.[9] He oversaw Volkswagen's acquisition of Lamborghini and Bentley and the establishment of Bugatti Automobiles, integrating them alongside Volkswagen, Škoda, SEAT, and Audi into a hierarchical structure akin to that used by Alfred Sloan at General Motors. In 2000, Piëch was appointed chairman of Scania AB.[10] He retired from the Board of Management in 2002 but continued to serve as Chairman of the Supervisory Board.
Under Piëch's leadership, Volkswagen consolidated an array of mid-sized and premium vehicle brands such as Audi, Bentley, Bugatti, Ducati, Lamborghini, Porsche, Skoda, SEAT, Scania, and MAN under the VW Group umbrella. According to Piëch, this strategy aimed to enhance these brands' status and reputation by leveraging Volkswagen's engineering, design expertise, and commitment to quality.[11]
During his tenure, Piëch was known for aggressively pushing the Volkswagen and Audi brands upmarket with considerable success. He also made significant moves into acquiring other marques, securing Lamborghini for Audi and establishing Bugatti Automobiles SAS. His acquisition of Rolls-Royce and Bentley proved more contentious. While Volkswagen successfully obtained the Crewe factory, car designs, nameplates, and trademarks such as the Spirit of Ecstasy and the Rolls-Royce grille, it was denied the use of the Rolls-Royce name, which BMW had licensed from Rolls-Royce Holdings. After negotiations, VW sold the Spirit of Ecstasy and the Rolls-Royce grille trademarks to BMW, allowing BMW to launch Rolls-Royce Motor Cars. Although Piëch later claimed that his primary interest was in Bentley, as it sold better than Rolls-Royce by a ratio of two to one, many saw the loss of the Rolls-Royce brand as a significant failure.
However, Piëch’s efforts to revive Volkswagen's fortunes in North America were a success. Unlike Hahn's earlier failed attempts, Piëch’s decision to manufacture the Volkswagen New Beetle, which debuted in 1998, revitalized Volkswagen's presence in the U.S. market after years of stagnation.
In recognition of his continued influence in the automotive industry, Automobile Magazine awarded Piëch their Man of the Year accolade in 2011.[12]
At Porsche, Piëch initiated significant policy changes within the company. For instance, the driver's position in race cars was shifted from the left to the right, as this provided an advantage on predominantly clockwise race tracks. After focusing mainly on producing small 2,000 cc (120 cu in) race cars that were intended to closely resemble road cars, Porsche made a bold and risky move by unexpectedly constructing twenty-five 5,000 cc (310 cu in) Porsche 917s, catching the rule makers at the FIA off guard. Even Ferrari had been compelled to sell his company to Fiat before making a comparable decision. Always inclined to think on a grand scale, Piëch began the development of a 16-cylinder engine for the Can-Am series. It is perhaps no coincidence that his grandfather had designed a renowned supercharged 16-cylinder engine for the Auto Union racing cars in the 1930s. However, Piëch was not granted the opportunity to complete this project, as a turbocharged version of the existing 12-cylinder engine proved to be simpler, more powerful, and highly successful. Three decades later, as CEO of Volkswagen Group, Piëch championed the development of the extraordinarily ambitious Bugatti Veyron, featuring a turbocharged W16-cylinder engine with 1,001 horsepower (746 kW) and a top speed of 407 km/h (253 mph). Although some of these specifications do not exceed those of the Porsche 917/30, they are still superior to most current racing cars. Piëch was also the driving force behind the Volkswagen Phaeton luxury saloon, which was designed to compete with other German luxury cars, although the model's sales have been disappointing.
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 Porsche family member is allowed to be involved in the management of the company. Even company founder Ferry Porsche, Piëch's uncle, only held a seat on the supervisory board of Porsche after the company's legal form was changed from a limited partnership to a private legal company. This made Piëch move to Audi after the foundation of his engineering bureau.
Piëch reportedly had 12 children from four different women,[12] though an obituary published by The Detroit News mentioned him having 13 children.[13] He was married to his second wife Ursula Piëch from 1984 to his death, he lived with her in retirement in Salzburg, Austria.[13] One of his sons, Toni Piëch, is the founder of car company Piëch Automotive. He was dyslexic,[12] and had a vast car collection that included two Bugatti Veyrons regularly driven by him and his wife.
Piëch collapsed suddenly on 25 August 2019 while having dinner with his wife in Aschau near Rosenheim, Oberbayern. He was rushed to hospital, where he was pronounced dead shortly thereafter. A specific cause of death wasn't released.[14]
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."[15] 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.[16] Fellow automotive executive Bob Lutz described Piëch as "one of the most successful leaders in the automotive business"[17] and "the greatest living product guy" in the automobile industry.[18] 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".[19] 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."[20]
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.[21][12] Automotive News once noted, "Many of his CEO peers said they could not hold a normal conversation with him. Discussions could be punctuated with long stretches of unexplained silence."[22] Piëch himself has acknowledged that he occasionally struggles to relate to other people and understand their feelings.[23] As Piëch rose to the top of Volkswagen in the late 1980s and early 1990s, then-CEO Carl Hahn took notice of Piëch's poor social skills and tried to position him as a technocrat kept behind closed doors.[24] Hahn was particularly bothered by how Piëch behaved during a visit to the Yasukuni Shrine; while a Shinto priest was showing the shrine's collection of vintage swords, Piëch examined one and told the priest that it was a fake.[24][a] Subsequently, Hahn presented the Audi Avus quattro concept car himself at the 1991 Tokyo Motor Show and didn't allow Piëch to take part, which infuriated Piëch due to his extensive personal involvement in the Avus quattro's creation.[24]
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."[19] 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.[16] 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:[25] "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."[25]
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 Volkswagen Phaeton luxury car, in which Piëch laid out ten parameters the car had to meet, amongst them being that the Phaeton should be capable of being driven all day at 300 km/h (186 mph) with an exterior temperature of 50 °C (122 °F) whilst maintaining the interior temperature at 22 °C (72 °F).[26] Piëch requested this even though the Phaeton's top speed was electronically limited to 250 km/h (155.3 mph).[27] Another requirement was that the car should possess torsional rigidity of 37,000 N·m/degree. Piëch would often become personally involved in vehicle development, such as how he oversaw the development of the Audi 100's aerodynamics himself, keeping it secret from even Audi's top engineers to prevent any crucial details of the car's aerodynamic capabilities from leaking to competitors.[20] Piëch often liked to ride along with automotive journalists during press test drives and would consider their critiques to improve Volkswagen's vehicles. Car and Driver writer John Phillips recounted how when he test drove the Volkswagen New Beetle during its launch in 1997, Piëch rode along and asked for his opinion on how its chassis and driving dynamics could be improved.[21] Similarly, Piëch once demanded that an Automobile reviewer take the Volkswagen Phaeton up to its top speed while he rode along in the back seat.[12]
With a leadership style described as "old fashioned",[17] Piëch was known for his prolific firing of subordinates throughout his career, particularly how he engineered the ousting of former Volkswagen CEO Bernd Pischetsrieder and Porsche CEO Wendelin Wiedeking.[12] According to Piëch, he fired any subordinate who "makes the same mistake twice".[12] The Guardian noted, "Piech was known for his ability to outmanoeuvre competitors by stoking internal rivalries to his own advantage, even if it resulted in turning against his own managers, including the VW chief executive Bernd Pischetsrieder, to side with VW's labour leaders."[20] Piëch leveraged this reputation to use threats and intimidation to get subordinates to meet his lofty goals; during Piëch's induction into the Automotive Hall of Fame in 2014, fellow automotive executive Bob Lutz recounted a conversation he had with Piëch at the Frankfurt Auto Show in the early 1990s, in which he remarked how he was impressed with the fit and finish and tight body tolerances on Volkswagen's new models. Piëch told Lutz that he achieved this by assembling Volkswagen's top body engineers in his office and telling them they would all be fired if all of Volkswagen's vehicles didn't have body tolerances of 3 millimeters within six weeks.[17] Wired described Piëch as "Machiavellian" and "an autocrat's autocrat".[25] Bob Lutz said of his management style, "It's what I call a reign of terror and a culture where performance was driven by fear and intimidation[...]That management style gets short-term results, but it's a culture that's extremely dangerous. Look at dictators. Dictators invariably wind up destroying the very countries they thought their omniscience and omnipotence would make great. It's fast and it's efficient, but at huge risk."[28] He would also describe Piëch as a "mad genius" that while he respected, he would never want to work for or with at any capacity.[18] Lutz, CNBC, the American documentary TV series Dirty Money, among others, have claimed that the Volkswagen diesel emissions scandal is the result of the ruthless and tyrannical corporate culture Piëch installed at the company.[29][28][23]Although Piëch had tried a hostile takeover against Suzuki in 2010 and threatened its management, Suzuki won the case to terminate its partnership with Volkswagen at the International Court of Arbitration of the International Chamber of Commerce after Piëch fell from power, and could dissolve the capital tie-up until September 2015.[30]
