Matthias Müller
The experienced car manager heads the supervisory board of the electric car start-up Piëch.
(Photo: dpa)
Düsseldorf Piëch is a name like Donnerhall in the auto industry. A new start-up from Zurich wants to build electric cars under the name of the family clan – and has hired another well-known manager to do so. Former VW CEO Matthias Müller is to monitor the fortunes of the start-up as chairman of the supervisory board, reports “Welt am Sonntag”.
“I was spontaneously enthusiastic about the mission of the two founders because it is more consistent and more visionary than all the new approaches I encountered during my work in the automotive industry,” Müller is quoted in the newspaper.
Anton Piëch, son of the late VW patriarch Ferdinand Piëch, founded the electric brand and presented the electric sports car “Mark Zero” in Geneva in 2019, which is due to hit the market in 2022. Behind the scenes, a number of well-known managers are working to develop the Piëch brand into a serious competitor for the ancestral auto industry.
Long-time Porsche manager Andreas Henke leads the company at the side of Anton Piëch. Head of technology is the experienced BMW developer Klaus Schmidt, who was responsible for the Munich-based M series for a long time, but failed in China.
Jochen Rudat, the former European head of Tesla, heads sales. The start-up collected money for the expansion from investor Peter Thiel, among others.
According to Piëch, the brand’s models should convince with superior battery and charging technology and be able to refuel with a range of up to 400 kilometers in just four minutes and forty seconds. At US electrical pioneer Tesla, charging currently takes ten times as long. In addition to the electric sports car, an SUV is also planned.
So far, the company’s cars are still in development. But if the mission succeeds, Piëch could actually become the electric challenger for Volkswagen and save the name of the legendary car manufacturer dynasty into the electric age. The Piëch-Spross does not hold shares in VW: Father Ferdinand had sold his shares in 2015.
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