German car industry mourns Volkswagen 'engineering genius' Piech

Tributes and words of appreciation havepoured in from across the German automotive industry following thedeath of former Volkswagen patriarch Ferdinand Piech. "Ferdinand Piech made history in carmaking - as a passionate manager,an engineering genius and as a visionary businessman," said HansDieter Poetsch, president of Volkswagen's supervisory board, onTuesday.Herbert Diess, Volkswagen chief executive, described Piech as brave,resolute and technically brilliant."In particular, Ferdinand Piech brought quality and perfection downto the smallest detail to building cars, and deeply rooted this inVolkswagen's DNA," Diess said.Piech died aged 82 on Monday, after collapsing in a restaurant in thesouthern state of Bavaria.Piech was chief executive of Volkswagen from 1993 until 2002 and waswidely credited with positioning the company to become Europe'slargest carmaker. "We are mourning with the family of Ferdinand K Piech, theextraordinary engineer and manager, the strategist and quite simplythe car enthusiast that he was throughout his life," Wolfang Porsche,head of the supervisory board of Volkswagen's parent company, PorscheSE, said. Porsche is also Piech's cousin. In commemoration of his death, Volkswagen plants across the countryhave flown their flags at half mast, and Audi plants around the worldfollowed suit. Audi is a subsidiary of Volkswagen, and Piech waschair of the company for five years before his move to VW."One of the biggest strengths of Ferdinand Piech was that he made thename Audi his own, and always listened to clients and employees,"Audi head Bram Schot said.Piech began his career in 1963 at Porsche, where he worked as anengineer to push the company forward in motor racing. He later movedinto management at Porsche. "Piech was a car guy through andthrough," said Porsche head Oliver Blume.Younger brother Hans Michel Piech said Ferdinand shaped the carindustry like no other. "And he was closely connected to theemployees of the Volkswagen company, in good times and in bad."Martin Winterkorn, who succeeded Piech at VW in 2015 following abitter power struggle, lauded Piech's "visionary power and his greatabilities as an engineer.""Ferdinand Piech was a supporter and companion to me personally formany years," he said. Winterkorn resigned six months after becoming VW chair when itemerged that the company had been cheating on environmental testingby fitting its diesel engines with a so-called defeat device, in ascandal that rocked the company and cost it tens of billions ofdollars in fines and legal settlements. Piech angered members of his family at the height of the emissionsscandal when he claimed he had alerted key VW directors in February2015 to the affair.Many politicians also chimed in to commemorate Piech.Former German chancellor Gehard Schroeder said Piech "shaped theglobal automotive industry for several decades."  Former German president Christian Wulff said Piech was a selflessmanager. "During all the ups and downs over the years, I becameconvinced that he always followed the interests of the VW company,and not his own," Wulff told the daily Hannoversche AllgemeineZeitung.Stephan Weil, premier of the state of Lower Saxony, called Piech "oneof the biggest business leaders in Germany's history." Lower Saxony is where the headquarters of Volkswagen are located. Thecompany is the economic powerhouse of the state, with thousands ofpeople in Lower Saxony employed there.The cities Braunschweig and Wolfsburg, both key locations for VW,paid their respects to Piech."Wolfsburg owes a great deal to Ferdinand Piech," said Klaus Mohr,city mayor, adding that Piech had saved thousands of people fromunemployment during the company's sales crisis.