Carl Hahn, who led Volkswagen Group’s worldwide growth within the Eighties, died on Saturday. He was 96.
Hahn died in his sleep at his residence in Wolfsburg, in keeping with a spokeswoman from his charitable basis. A ceremony is deliberate for Jan. 24.
Born in Chemnitz in japanese Germany in 1926, Carl Horst Hahn Jr studied enterprise administration and economics, receiving a doctorate from the University of Bern.
He joined VW in 1954 and have become its chief in 1982. During his decade-long tenure, VW constructed factories in China, acquired Seat in Spain and Skoda within the Czech Republic, and expanded into former communist East Germany.
“Until then we were too focused on Germany, we were a national company. Except for the Americans, there were no global brands,” Hahn mentioned in a 2020 interview with Automotive News Group’s German language publication Automobilwoche.
“We started with Seat and were able to get Volkswagen out of a crisis when we were only losing money in our German factories,” he mentioned.
Hahn additionally began Audi’s transition to the luxury-car section.
In the Sixties, Hahn led VW’s enterprise within the U.S. and helped set up the Beetle as an icon of American popular culture. Disagreements over technique led to his departure to tire-maker Continental in 1972 earlier than returning 10 years later.
After being succeeded as Volkswagen CEO by Ferdinand Piech in 1992, Hahn served one other 5 years on the corporate’s supervisory board.
Hahn chronicled his profession within the autobiography “My Years With Volkswagen,” printed in 2005.
Source: europe.autonews.com
