Former Volkswagen CEO Ferdinand Piech dies at 82

Ferdinand Piech, who transformed Volkswagen from a struggling brand into a global automotive empire, has died at the age of 82. The former chairman and CEO helped develop some iconic cars, like the Porsche 917 and Audi Quattro. Jack Ewing of the New York Times joins us on QMB for more.

[@MrRea112]

Piech was the embodiment of the visionary. Even the “flops” referred to here became loss leaders - the Veyron to showcase VW Group’s engineering prowess and the Phaeton (built on the Bentley Continental platform) to lift the VW brand out from the mediocre image it’s competitors shared, a legacy VW enjoys to this day. He was a ruthless, (probably feared and disliked yet admired) highly intelligent and single minded leader with few peers in his time.

[@stevenmaginnis1965]

My first new car was a 2000 Golf. The Mark 4 Golf was the Golf developed entirely under Piëch's leadership. I had my problems with it, but I drove that car for eleven and a half years and loved every mile of it. Piëch is a hero in America for saving the company's U.S. business - VW came paper-thin close to pulling out of the United States when he took over. in 1993, Volkswagen only sold 49,533 cars out of over three million globally. By the time I bought my Mark 4 Golf, the business had recovered and the New Beetle was the hottest car on the market.

[@nnface2023]

Whats with all the mispronunciations!! VEYRON, PIECH...

[@wafi3187]

RIP Ferdinand piech ✊ thank you for Audi Quattro and all other beautiful cars,

[@lazarnedeljkovic5615]

Wow he managed to mispronounce EVERYTHING

[@s.samuel012]

Without him, lots of beautiful cars will be not produced

[@jwagner1993]

..now, VW Phaeton is getting extremely desirable.

[@tufluxed3293]

Bugatti VERRR I ON

[@laxman90210]

lol

[@frettchen4473]

He Diet in my Town: Rosenheim i‘am German