An electric sports car named Piëch – this model study caused a stir recently at the Geneva Motor Show. The ex-VW super father should not have much left for the project of a son.
Julian Stratenschulte / dpa
Ex-VW supervisory board boss Ferdinand Piëch
Sunday, 31.03.2019
00:06 clock
As a patriarch moved to old school Ferdinand Piëch For years, the strings at the world’s largest carmaker Volkswagen, Today, the group is investing billions in the transition to electromobility – but the much-acclaimed e-project of his son Anton does not really catch on Piëch senior.
Accordingly, the former chairman of VW’s board of directors and supervisory board now expressed in the “Bild am Sonntag”: “I was never there, I’m not there and will not be involved in the project,” said the 81-year-old.
Piëch had led the Wolfsburg car manufacturer from the nineties in the world top. Him and his foster son – who stumbled over the Abgasaffäre later VW boss Martin Winterkorn – was said to have because of her car passion “gasoline in the blood”. But the industry is now in a rapid transition to electric drives, autonomous driving and new services.
Production start in two years?
Son Anton had recently on the Geneva Motor Show presented its own sports car – the PS Protz should also be brought by an electric motor on tours. By the planned start of production in two years, the study called “Mark Zero” could create a whole family of models. It is still looking for investors. Anton Piëch told the newspaper: “My father is not involved in the project in any way and at any time.” At the car showroom, he had already restricted: “Only because Piëch is on it, nobody will buy the car.”
According to the report, Father Piëch should not be particularly convinced of the concept of Filius. He allegedly resisted the use of the family name for the vehicle. At the fair in Geneva, some visitors had rated the choice of the designation as a subtle swipe against the highly profitable VW Group brand Porsche, to whose owner family the Piëchs often have a tense relationship.
Powerful owner families
Ferdinand Piëch’s cousin Wolfgang Porsche is a powerful supervisory board chairman at Porsche AG and at the VW parent company Porsche-Holding. He also sits on the supervisory board of Volkswagen. After Piëch had gone in the spring of 2015 “at a distance” to the former VW boss Winterkorn, there was a long dispute over the further leadership of the Wolfsburg car giant.