Car purchases are rarely rational, and nobody understood that more than Austrian business magnate and Porsche heir Ferdinand Piëch. In his 50-plus years in the automotive industry, his main motivating factor was building cool shit and taking it racing, often completely at odds with company profit or shareholder value. He knew how to get people to pay attention, and that’s how the world ended up getting the Bugatti Veyron or the Volkswagen Phaeton. Through his career, this guy was integral to Porsche’s dominance in motorsport, the success of diesel, all-wheel drive, dual-clutch gearboxes, and more.
Whether aiming for 250 miles per hour or 250 miles per gallon, Piëch demanded engineers strive for greatness.
Hagerty’s Jason Cammisa digs deep into the Piëch lore in a fresh episode of his show Icons. You’re going to want to carve out 35 minutes of your day to watch this, it’s great.
Any single one of the cars in the Piëch portfolio could have stood alone as a marker of a great automotive leader. He was a ruthless leader, accepting nothing less than the best from his underlings. He was obsessed with building exceptional cars that set new standards. Whether working on hypercars, sportscars, economy cars, or luxury cars, he spared no expense and expected the best. Unlike the CEOs of today who are aiming for short-term gain to appease shareholders, Piëch spent his career reviving brands from the verge of bankruptcy and helping them develop an identity they could hang a hat on.
There’s so much more to the FP story that can’t be told here, or in Jason’s 35-minute epic, but just know that there was never anyone like him, and there never will be again.