Former VW Chairman, Ferdinand Piech, dies

According to a media report, former Volkswagen chairman, Ferdinand Piech, has died aged 82. It is said that he died on 25 August 2019 in Rosenheim, Bavaria.

Ferdinand Piech is the grandson of Ferdinand Porsche. He became Volkswagen’s chief executive in 1993 and chairman in 2002. He resigned in 2015 after a fallout with former VW CEO Martin Winterkorn. During his tenure, Piech was able to turn Volkswagen's Euro 1 billion loss to Euro 2.6 billion profit. He is also credited with the expansion of the Volkswagen Group by adding luxury brands like Bentley, Bugatti and Lamborghini in a single year.

Piech is said to have been behind the modular construction technique, which helped Audi, Skoda and VW share up to 65% of the parts. He is also credited with developing the Porsche 917.

Source: Reuters