Volkswagen Group Chairman, Ferdinand Piech, forced to quit Volkswagen

Recently, we reported that Volkswagen AG’s current corporate management situation is brewing with some controversy amid unsatisfactory sales figures in recent times.

Now, Volkswagen AG officially reports that their group chairman, Ferdinand Piech, was forced to resign from his position on the committee board. Piech’s wife, who also had a position on the board, also resigned as well.

This is some pretty significant news because Ferdinand Piech has been an extraordinarily influential individual in the history of the Volkswagen AG empire. Piech’s not only a grandson of the legendary Ferdinand Porsche, he was once the head of Audi in the 1980s and is heavily credited for growing the Ingolstadt automaker into a competitive luxury giant against Mercedes-Benz and BMW.

As an engineer as well, he’s responsible for designing Quattro all-wheel drive, the Audi 100, the Volkswagen New Beetle, the Audi, R8, the Lamborghini Gallardo, the Volkswagen Phaeton, and above-all, he was the mastermind behind the Bugatti Veyron. In 1993, he climbed his way to being the chairman and CEO of Volkswagen Group and all of their success since then, including the purchase and growth of Bentley, Lamborghini, Bugatti, Skoda, SEAT and the vertical integration of all those brands into the one major ladder-type portfolio of Volkswagen AG, was all under his direction.

Basically, he literally is Mr. Volkswagen AG who lives, breathes and eats nothing more or less.

Because he is such an influential figure to be forced into leaving the company, this is undoubtedly a major industry story and is probably one that will be lingering for quite some time on our feeds.

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Statement of the Executive Committee of the Supervisory Board of Volkswagen AG

Wolfsburg, 25 April 2015 — The Executive Committee of the Supervisory Board of Volkswagen AG discussed again today in detail the situation of the Volkswagen Group.

1.:
The members of the Executive Committee have unanimously determined that in view of the background of the last weeks the mutual trust necessary for successful cooperation no longer exists.

2.:
For this reason Professor Dr. Ferdinand K. Piëch has resigned with immediate effect from his position as Chairman of the Supervisory Board and from all his mandates as a Supervisory Board member within the Volkswagen Group. In addition, Ms. Ursula Piëch has resigned with immediate effect from all her Supervisory Board mandates within the Volkswagen Group.

3.:
The position of Chairman of the Supervisory Board will be temporarily assumed by the Deputy Chairman Berthold Huber. Mr. Berthold Huber will chair both the Supervisory Board meeting on May 4 as well as the Annual General Meeting on May 5, 2015.

4.:
Under the chair of Mr. Berthold Huber the representatives of shareholders and employees will in close cooperation determine the candidate for the new Chairman of the Supervisory Board. The election of the future Chairman of the Volkswagen Supervisory Board will follow a proposal made by members of the Supervisory Board representing shareholders.

– By: Chris Chin

Contributing Report: Reuters

Chris Chin

Chris Chin is the Editor-In-Chief of egmCarTech and is a regular contributor to Automobile Magazine.

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