Ferdinand Piech’s career in the automotive industry is on the cusp of ending following confirmation that he is selling his near 15 per cent voting stake in Porsche SE, the family holding company that controls Volkswagen Group.
The 79-year-old has a long and almost unrivalled career in the car world. After all, his grandfather was none other than Ferdinand Porsche but since resigning as the chairman of the VW Group’s advisory board in April 2015, the Austrian engineer is thought to have become disillusioned by the industry he helped shape.
In the wake of dieselgate, Piech has burned many bridges with key Volkswagen executives. As a matter of fact, he revealed in his testimony to prosecutors during the emissions cheating investigation that he told key VW directors about the scandal as early as February 2015, including his cousin Wolfgang Porsche.
However, top executives from Volkswagen Group have consistently denied these claims, asserting that they only knew about the issues when the scandal broke in September 2015.
Automotive News reports that after incriminating his cousin in dieselgate, Piech’s relatives started to try and push him off the board of Porsche SE. Despite leaving the VW Group, Piech continued to attend Porsche SE board meetings but as of last week, the family revealed it intended to buy Piech’s voting stake.
If this plan comes to fruition, it will end Piech’s involvement in the industry which he has been a part of since 1963 when he first started working for Porsche, helping to develop some of its most iconic road and racing cars. During his time at Volkswagen AG, he also oversaw the purchase of Lamborghini, the creation of Bugatti Automobiles SAS (and therefore the Veyron) and the acquisition of Bentley.
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