Industrialist, engineer and Volkswagen Group patriarch Ferdinand Piech has died at the age of 82.
Reports in the German media says he died suddenly and unexpectedly after collapsing in a restaurant at Rosenheim, a town in the state of Bavaria, southern Germany.
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An engineer by training, Piech was the architect of an industrial strategy that saw the VW Group expand into a major global force on the back of brand acquisitions and a design and manufacturing overhaul framed around consolidating models to common group platforms across the brands.
He was CEO of VW Group from 1993-2002 and thereafter wielded considerable power as chair of the company’s supervisory board until 2015 (when he was voted out after trying to remove then CEO Martin Winterkorn, just months before the ‘dieselgate’ scandal broke). His tenure was noted for the political battles with the Porsche family and he led the VW takeover of Porsche (after Porsche interests had tried and failed to take control of VW).
Piech was the grandson of Ferdinand Porsche and a talented engineer who spent two decades as head of Audi before moving to the top job at VW Group in 1993. He had a reputation as a tough manager who would sometimes force his ideas through despite internal resistance. There were also corruption scandals which hinted at a corporate culture driven by engineering primacy and business growth, to the detriment of some other values – arguably culminating in the long-term conditions that led to the ‘dieselgate’ crisis. However, his industrial strategy from the 1990s to build the Volkswagen Group into a major – and highly profitable – global force built on scale economies and at the same time acquire premium brands such as Bentley, Bugatti and Lamborghini, leaves a considerable legacy.
Hans-Dieter Pötsch, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of VW Group said in a statement: “Ferdinand Piech has written automotive history – as a passionate manager, ingenious engineer, and a visionary entrepreneur. Since the 1960s, he has significantly shaped the development of the automobile, pushing forward the entire industry and above all Volkswagen, transforming the company into a global mobility group. Our company and its people owe Prof. Piech a lot. With deep respect, we bow to his life’s work. We mourn with his family and relatives. And we will always keep him and his life’s work in honorable memory. “
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By GlobalDataDr. Herbert Diess, CEO of VW Group said: “Ferdinand Piech was bold, entrepreneurially consistent, and technically brilliant. As a young engineer, he has made Porsche a brand in racing through legendary vehicles such as the 917 and the Le Mans victory. Since 1972, he has brought Audi to the next technological level with innovations such as the quattro drive and the TDI engine, and has shaped Audi into a premium brand as CEO. Heading the Volkswagen Group, Ferdinand Piech has advanced its internationalization, the integration of Bentley, Lamborghini and Bugatti into the Group, and has led our volume brands to international competitiveness through a consistent platform strategy. He integrated Scania and MAN into the Group, laying the foundation for a globally competitive commercial vehicle supplier. Technologically, he and his development teams have repeatedly gone beyond the limits of the feasible: from the first one-liter car in the world to the Bugatti Veyron with 1,001 hp. Above all, Ferdinand Piech brought quality and perfection down to the last detail in the automotive industry, deeply anchoring it in the Volkswagen DNA. I look with gratitude and great respect at his life’s work.”
VW said that in commemoration of Ferdinand Piech, flags are set to half-mast in various Volkswagen locations, including Wolfsburg and Dresden.
