Ferdinand Piëch Resigns From VW Empire
Ferdinand Piëch, Chairman of the VW Group, resigned from his position this weekend.
The 78 year-old German started his career at Porsche (he is the grandson of founder Ferdinand Porsche) before moving to Audi. He accumulated success there, eventually becoming CEO of Volkswagen, and he is credited with the company’s impressive turnaround. He supervised the acquisition of Lamborghini and Bentley, and he resurrected Bugatti; the Veyron, the Volkswagen XL1 and the Phaeton are some of his pet projects. For his numerous achievements, he was named Car Executive Of The Century in 1999.
The exact circumstances of his resignation are somewhat blurry, but it seems that some political plotting is going on inside the VW group. Mr. Piëch reportedly tried to discredit Volkswagen’s CEO, Martin Winterkorn, but the manoeuver backfired; he then lost the committee’s favour. The rumours mention that said committee might have forced him to resign.
With the departure of Mr. Piëch, VW will be temporarily led by Berthold Huber. In addition to keeping the empire afloat, Mr. Huber will have to find a suitable replacement for Ferdinand Piëch.