Porsche-Piech clan to stay out of Volkswagen management: Wolfgang Porsche

Members of the Porsche-Piech clan that manages Volkswagen will not be qualified to serve as executives of the automaker, Porsche Automobil Holding SE Chairman Wolfgang Porsche informed.

“That no member of the family is active in the operating company must apply to Porsche SE and the entire Volkswagen group,” Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung quoted him.

His remarks come after Ferdinand Piech sold the bulk of his stake in Porsche SE, which owns 52.2 percent of the voting shares in Volkswagen, to his brother Hans Michel Piech.

Piech as soon as had aspirations to lead automaker Porsche, however his hopes were rushed in the 1970s since the clan did not want a family member at the helm.

He went on to hold senior positions at Audi and Mercedes-Benz prior to rising to CEO of Volkswagen, before it was controlled by the Porsche-Piech families, and ultimately supervisory board chairman.

Ferdinand Piech’s departure from VW marked an end to the impact of a towering figure in the car industry who has had a rocky relationship with the business since he was ousted as chairman in 2015, months prior to the company’s diesel emissions scandal.

Hans Michel Piech informed Frankfurter Allgemeine that the secret of Porsche’s success was that it brought outsiders as managers instead of selecting family members.

“As a supervisory board member you can not quickly inform a family member what to do. You can talk to an employed supervisor in a completely different way,” he said.