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Ferdinand Piëch at 70

April 17 saw Prof. Dr. h.c. Ferdinand K. Piëch, the Volkswagen Group's Supervisory Board chairman, celebrating his 70th birthday.

Even as a child, Ferdinand Piëch ­ the son of Ferdinand Porsche's daughter Louise and the attorney Dr. Anton Piëch ­ was a frequent visitor to the Wolfsburg factory, and his grandfather, originator of the Beetle and creator of the Auto Union racing cars, was a great role model.

After graduating with a degree in Engineering, Piëch joined Porsche and became head of testing (1966), head of development (1968) and technical general manager (1971), before achieving motorsport success with the 917 racing car which scored two successive victories at Le Mans and still holds the average speed record for the event.

Credited with the design and management of many pioneering innovations, from the 917 and the Audi quattro to the Audi A8, and from the 1001 PS Bugatti Veyron and W12 Phaeton to Volkswagen's one-litre car, Piëch is also considered by many as the ŒCar Executive of the Century'. Following his outstanding performance as Audi chairman from 1988 to 1993 he became VW chairman from 1993 to 2002, during which time he doubled sales and turned an ailing group into a global player.

Even at the age of 70 Piëch still carries great weight in the automotive world ­ both as chairman of the Supervisory Board of Volkswagen AG and Supervisory Board member of Porsche AG. The Porsche-Piëch family not only owns Porsche and Porsche Holding, but also recently became the owner of almost one third of the shares in the Volkswagen Group.

On April 19, following the Annual General Meeting, the Supervisory Board of
Volkswagen AG unanimously elected Prof. Dr. h.c. Ferdinand K. Piëch as
Chairman of the Supervisory Board for a further five years