There have been no official statements from Volkswagen or members of the Piech family regarding his death. As reported by Bild, the 82-year-old engineer fell ill on Sunday, August 25, while having dinner at an establishment in Rosenheim, Bavaria. He was promptly taken to a local clinic, where he died. No information is available about the cause of death.
Ferdinand Piech was born in 1937 in Vienna. After graduating from university in 1963, he joined Porsche, where he soon led a group of engineers working on the Porsche 917 sports car. It was this car that brought the German brand its debut triumph in the 24 Hours of Le Mans race in 1970.
Later, in compliance with the rule prohibiting representatives of the Porsche and Piech clans from holding executive positions in the company, the specialist moved to Audi. In Ingolstadt in the seventies, Piech was responsible for creating models such as the Audi 80 and Audi 100, as well as the legendary rally car Audi Quattro, which competed in Group B. Piech is considered the main architect of Audi's transformation into a premium brand capable of competing with BMW and Mercedes-Benz.
In 1993, Piech became chairman of the board of management of the Volkswagen Group, taking over the concern in the midst of a serious financial crisis. On his initiative, the introduction of modular platforms common to different brands within VW began, and it was he who promoted the purchase of brands such as Skoda, Bentley, Lamborghini, and MAN.
Piech left his post at Volkswagen in 2015 after the outbreak of the "diesel scandal," the essence of which was the deliberate understatement of harmful emissions figures for diesel engines. The consequences of "dieselgate" resulted in a series of high-profile dismissals, colossal fines, and massive vehicle recalls worldwide for the company.
