Porsche is one of the dream sports cars while Volkswagen is known as everyone’s car. The two automakers above are actually brother companies. The current head of Porsche is Ferdinand Piech, grandson of the founder of the supercar line. His wife runs Volkswagen. As such, this multinational company is actually run by a single family.
Ferdinand Piech was not only a brilliant automobile designer but also an outstanding industrial manager. It was he who brought Volkswagen out of a period of severe crisis, turning heavy losses into big profits.
Ferdinand Piech was born on April 17, 1937 in Vienna, the capital of Austria. He came from a prestigious family. Ferdinand’s father is Anton Piech, a famous lawyer who married Louise Porsche, daughter of Ferdinand Porsche, an Austrian car legend with the most luxurious and expensive sports car company in the world. Mr. Anton Piech served as CEO of the German car company Volkswagen during the years of World War II.
Mr. Ferdinand Piech studied at a Swiss boarding school in Engadine. The reason he was sent to this school was because his academic results were only average in Austria. Those “dark” times, he said, taught him to be self-reliant, “because you can’t rely on others.”
In 1962, Ferdinand graduated from university with a degree in engineering. Ferdinand Piech started his career here with the dream of one day taking the reins of the family’s prestigious sports car company.
Piech then went on to study engineering in Zurich, earning a degree in Formula 1 engines, and joined Porsche in 1973. He made his name as a sports car engineer at Porsche.
He was the design supervisor of the Porsche 917, which won the Le Mans 24-hour race in 1970, sending Porsche sales soaring. An ambitious man, Ferdinand Piech hoped to become the chief executive officer of Porsche, but was prevented from doing so by members of the Porsche family.
German news website Spiegel revealed that in one of his conversations with them, he shouted: “I am a wild boar, and you are domestic pigs!” His implication in this statement is that you can go up on your own, while others need care.
Ferdinand Piech’s whole life is still associated with the car industry. Therefore, many people liken me that there is gasoline in the blood of Ferdinand Piech.
That seems to be true in all respects. Ferdinand Piech is not only a person with a strong attachment to the auto industry, but he was also born into a very prestigious and famous family of auto manufacturers. Ferdinand Piech is the grandson of Ferdinand Porsche, the founder of Porsche automobile company and also the father of many famous car brands and models.
Ferdinand Piech always wanted to prove his ability and bravery in the auto industry. After that, he was ready to leave Porsche to join Audi, a subsidiary of the Volkswagen group.
He has been with Volkswagen and uses his talent and understanding of engineering and automotive technology to develop new products. Piech rose to the top of Audi’s management board within just three years of joining the company. In 1975, Ferdinand Piech became a member of the Board of Directors of Audi.
During his time at Audi, Ferdinand Piech demonstrated not only his innovative technical abilities in automotive engineering, but also his excellent sales and corporate governance. As head of technical development, he launched the Quattro and designed a series of innovations that transformed a lackluster brand into a viable competitor to two luxury brands. leading are BMW and Mercedes.
Ferdinand Piech has really become a big name in the auto industry when the name Audi has crossed the German border. At the same time, Ferdinand Piech has also built the Audi brand into a mid- and high-class car brand thanks to Europe’s most modern car production technology.
Piech is mentioned as a true car enthusiast. He supported many projects that later became a measure of success, most notably the Bugatti Veyron helping the French “phoenix” revive from the ashes. 2 Volkswagen Phaeton and XL1 models, although not commercially successful, have also become a good foundation for other projects of the German group.
With his great contributions to the Audi era, he was trusted to be the CEO of Volkswagen from 1993 to 2002. When he took office, everyone’s car company was struggling financially. . With his brilliant decisions, Piech made Volkswagen profitable again without even having to cut a large number of staff.
Thanks to his driving skills, the shipwreck was brought back to the right orbit and even rose to become the number one force in the world car village. It was also during this period that Volkswagen acquired many more sub-brands under such as Bentley, Bugatti and Porsche. It can be said that Volkswagen’s success today has great merits of the Austrian leader.
When taking the top management at Volkswagen, Ferdinand Piech decided to implement a strategy of many brands, many classes at the same time for his products. Besides existing brands such as VW, Golf, Audi, Seat, Skoda, Ferdinand Piech also bought many new brands such as Bentley, Bugatti, Lamborghini, Scania.
His strict control over quality, coupled with his tough management style, made him “autocratic” by some. He is known for his “straight eyes” and harsh words. Under his leadership, VW quickly developed, and became Toyota’s main competitor in the international market.
During his ten years as Executive Chairman, Volkswagen has grown from an average carmaker to the largest car manufacturer in Europe and the third largest in the world. Competitors from the US, Japan and Europe all have to respect a giant corporation with more than 300,000 employees and increasingly efficient operations like Volkswagen.
Volkswagen’s sales revenue increased from $43 billion in 1994 to $75 billion in 1998. In 2000, Volkswagen reached a record number when sales reached nearly $96 billion. More than 324,000 people are on the group’s salary list.
However, Piech’s most notable decision was in 2012 when he brought Porsche under the Volkswagen roof. In September 2015, Porsche bought a 20% stake in Volkswagen and after that, the sports car company continuously increased its stake. However, to do that, Porsche owed more than 10 billion USD and failed to meet its goal of owning the required amount of shares. Volkswagen then turned the tables and bought Porsche.
During his lifetime, Ferdinand Piech not only had an important influence on Volkswagen and its sub-brands, but also completely changed the world auto industry. He died at the age of 82 and left many scandals in his career. However, his contribution and talent to the world auto industry cannot be denied. To this day, there are still legacies left by Ferdinand Piech that are still valuable and honored.
Summary – Photo: Internet
at Blogtuan.info – Source: autopro.com.vn – Read the original article here
