Yahoo Autos The Complicated Legacy of Ferdinand Piech
Ferdinand Piech is gone. The phrase "larger than life" is frequently used to describe the lives of remarkable individuals, and the term is over-worn. But it's highly applicable in the case of this hugely successful, exceptionally gifted man. He was a man whose strong will permitted him to achieve the near-impossible; a man whose sense of exceptionalism led him to violate rules of society and business with equal impunity. "My way, or get out of my life," was Piech's attitude. And it worked.
Shown above, Piech in 2012.
I first met Ferdinand when he was chief engineer of Audi, while I was with Ford of Europe. He had just led the creation of the Audi Quattro, the world's first high-performance all-wheel drive coupe. It became an instant sensation. It was at the Frankfurt auto show; I approached him at the Audi stand where he was pointing out the finer aspects of his creation on a full-size cutaway.
I'll never forget his face. When we were introduced, he smiled ... or was it a grin, or even a sardonic smirk? It was broad enough, but with his head bowed forward at a slight angle, the dark, intense eyes fairly glowing from underneath semi-arched brows, there was something diabolically menacing about it.
Engineering excellence was in Piech's DNA. He was the grandson of the original Dr. Porsche, who created—for Adolf Hitler—the original Volkswagen Beetle. Piech inherited his grandfather's prodigious energy and ambition, which broached no compromises. Piech had his own goals, and a sufficiently crafty mind, downright devious when necessary, that ensured he always got what he wanted.
Piech surrounded himself with a force-field of his own construction, compromised in equal parts of respect and fear. The aura that radiated from this slender, medium-height man was impossible to miss. One sensed the presence of greatness, but it was not benevolent. Looking at his cold, frozen smile was a reminder that threats and punishment were only a wave of the hand or a blink of an eye away.
When Piech became CEO of the Volkswagen Group in 1993, his elevation was greeted with mixed feelings. There was joy on the part of those who were tired of semi-effective leadership that administered the situation rather than striving for radical change. Others, knowing Piech's dark side, braced themselves for one-man rule and total lack of tolerance.
During his inaugural week as boss of VW, Piech called all of the company's Vice Presidents, 30 or so in total, into his office. Succinctly explaining his priorities, he ended the brief meeting by telling the group that, by next week, few if any of them would still be working for VW.
