--- title: Ferdinand Piëch · HICONIUM description: Ferdinand Piëch in the HICONIUM register — 3 files carrying their credit. canonical_url: https://hiconium.dev/people/ferdinand-piech image: https://hiconium.dev/og/people/ferdinand-piech.png --- > HICONIUM · Index: https://hiconium.dev/llms.txt · Every page: append `.md` or send `Accept: text/markdown`. > Path: [Home](https://hiconium.dev/) › [People](https://hiconium.dev/people) › Ferdinand Piëch > On this page: [Weight discipline](#weight-discipline) · [Centre-drive twelve](#centre-drive-twelve) · [No raised spoilers](#no-raised-spoilers) · [3 files carry this name](#3-files-carry-this-name) ![Portrait photograph of Ferdinand Piëch.](https://hiconium.dev/_derived/images/people/ferdinand-piech/portrait.jpg.w1920.q75.webp) People # Ferdinand Piëch Porsche engineer and development leader | Label | Value | | --- | --- | | Born | Vienna, Austria, 1937 | | Died | Rosenheim, 2019 | | Nationality | Austrian | Wikimedia Commons The record Austrian engineer and grandson of Ferdinand Porsche who led Porsche development through the 906 Carrera 6, 908 and 917. He gave the 917 its go-ahead and saw Porsche's first overall Le Mans win in 1970, then took the same technical drive to Audi and Volkswagen before his death in 2019. Born in Vienna on 17 April 1937 to Anton Piëch and Louise, née Porsche, he boarded at the Lyceum Alpinum in Zuoz and took a mechanical-engineering diploma at ETH Zurich in 1962. His thesis was an air-cooled twelve-cylinder Formula 1 engine. He joined Porsche's engine-testing department in Stuttgart-Zuffenhausen on 1 April 1963 and led testing from 1966, after an oil cooler for the Type 904 and a 180 PS six-cylinder race engine. The register credits him as development supervisor for the 906 Carrera 6. Porsche records that he initiated the race-car design department in 1965 and that the 1966 works racing effort was concentrated on the 906. He became Head of Development in 1968. The 911's six-cylinder boxer reached series maturity under his leadership. As Head of Development he ran the 908 and 917. He gave the 917 its go-ahead after the five-litre rule change; Porsche built twenty-five homologation cars in ten months for Geneva on 13 March 1969. The twelve joined two sixes around a centre take-off drawn from his ETH thesis. Hans Mezger held overall construction and the engine, Helmuth Bott the chassis. Hans Herrmann and Richard Attwood won Le Mans overall in a Porsche Salzburg 917 short-tail in 1970. He joined Porsche's executive board for technology in 1971 and left in 1972, when family members vacated operational posts as the firm became a stock corporation. At Audi NSU Auto Union he rose from technical development to the board in 1975 and chaired Audi AG from 1988. Volkswagen made him chairman of the board of management on 1 January 1993 and of the supervisory board on 16 April 2002. He resigned all Group mandates in April 2015 and died in Rosenheim on 25 August 2019. ### Weight discipline Porsche's 908/03 account records Piëch's insistence on reducing weight, leading engineers to use titanium, aluminium and magnesium and minimise material thicknesses. The aluminium tube frame weighed just over 30 kilograms and the body twelve; race-ready, the 1970 car was 545 kilograms. ### Centre-drive twelve His ETH diploma was an air-cooled twelve-cylinder Formula 1 engine. For the 917 he had two sixes joined as a 4.6-litre flat-twelve and used a centre take-off to tame the crankshaft, a layout first studied in that thesis. Hans Mezger held overall construction and the engine. ### No raised spoilers On the 908/03, project manager Manfred Bantle recorded that Piëch really did not like spoilers and always wanted them two centimetres lower. Hermann Burst found the downforce without one; wings appeared only in the car's 1971 season. The stations 1. 1963–1966 Porsche KG Engineer, engine testing 2. 1966–1968 Porsche KG Head of testing 3. 1968–1971 Porsche KG Head of Development 4. 1971–1972 Porsche KG Executive board, technology and external development 5. 1972–1975 Audi NSU Auto Union AG Technical development; head of overall testing from 1973, head of technical development from 1974 6. 1975–1988 Audi NSU Auto Union AG / Audi AG Board member for technical development 7. 1981–2015 Porsche AG Member of the Supervisory Board 8. 1988–1992 Audi AG Chairman of the Board of Management 9. 1992–1993 Volkswagen AG Member of the Board of Management 10. 1993–2002 Volkswagen AG Chairman of the Board of Management; Volkswagen brand board from 1 August 1993 11. 2002–2015 Volkswagen AG Chairman of the Supervisory Board The house [![Porsche](https://hiconium.dev/images/marques/full/porsche.svg)](https://hiconium.dev/manufacturers/porsche) Credited through Porsche. In the register ## 3 files carry this name - [Porsche 906 Carrera 6 Development supervisor · Porsche Development supervisor in the register. Porsche records that he initiated the race-car design department Hans Mezger headed from 1965, and that a 180 PS six-cylinder race engine preceded his 1966 testing post — the period of the 906's Type 901/20. 1966 €2.8M 1966 €2.8M Rating 90.0](https://hiconium.dev/vehicles/porsche/906-carrera-6) - [Porsche 908 Head of development · Porsche As Head of Development he set the 1970 split: the 917 on fast circuits, the 908/03 on the Targa Florio and Nürburgring. He refused weight compromises on the 908/03 and disliked spoilers; the first-year car ran without them at 545 kilograms. 1968–1971 €3.5M 1968–1971 €3.5M Rating 91.0](https://hiconium.dev/vehicles/porsche/908) - [Porsche 917 Head of development · Porsche He gave the programme its go-ahead after the five-litre rule change and, Porsche says, had the car designed for a 1969 Geneva reveal ten months later. The twelve's centre take-off drew on his ETH thesis; Mezger held overall construction and the engine. 1969–1971 €18M 1969–1971 €18M Rating 99.0](https://hiconium.dev/vehicles/porsche/917) The files above are the register's own record of this name. [The people index](https://hiconium.dev/people) holds everyone the register credits. In their words > “Der Porsche 917 wurde der ultimative Sportwagen und lief immer im Grenzbereich.” Ferdinand Piëch · Ferdinand Piëch, "Die Königsklasse des Automobilbaus – von der ETH Zürich zum Bugatti Veyron," ETHistory, March 2005 Sources - [ethistory.ethz.ch](https://www.ethistory.ethz.ch/rueckblicke/hochschulgremien/alumni/weitere_seiten/4.15_piech/popupfriendly) - [ethistory.ethz.ch](https://www.ethistory.ethz.ch/rueckblicke/hochschulgremien/alumni/weitere_seiten/4.15_piech/4.15.1_piech_text.pdf) - [newsroom.porsche.com](https://newsroom.porsche.com/en/2019/company/porsche-obituary-ferdinand-piech-18460.html) - [newsroom.porsche.com](https://newsroom.porsche.com/en/motorsports/porsche-motorsports-history-le-mans-winners-1970-porsche-917-kh-coupe-23-11062.html) - [newsroom.porsche.com](https://newsroom.porsche.com/en/history/porsche-history-1970-908-03-racing-car-targa-florio-nuerburgring-essence-13864.html) - [newsroom.porsche.com](https://newsroom.porsche.com/en/2019/company/porsche-birthday-hans-mezger-norbert-singer-19059.html) - [newsroom.porsche.com](https://newsroom.porsche.com/en/2019/history/porsche-911-daytona-1966-christophorus-17441.html) - [newsroom.porsche.com](https://newsroom.porsche.com/en/2021/history/porsche-valentin-schaeffer-90th-birthday-25964.html) - [porsche.com](https://www.porsche.com/stories/innovation/why-the-porsche-917-is-a-gamechanger/) - [volkswagen-group.com](https://www.volkswagen-group.com/en/press-releases/volkswagen-mourns-death-of-ferdinand-piech-16969) - [volkswagen-group.com](https://www.volkswagen-group.com/de/volkswagen-chronik-17351/1992-bis-2015-die-globalisierung-des-mobilitaetskonzerns-17360) - [theguardian.com](https://www.theguardian.com/business/2019/aug/27/ferdinand-piech-porsche-patriarch-and-vw-saviour-dies-at-82) - [zeit.de](https://www.zeit.de/wirtschaft/2015-04/ferdinand-piech-volkswagen-aufsichtsrat-ruecktritt) - [dw.com](https://www.dw.com/en/vw-patriarch-ferdinand-pi%C3%ABch-steps-down/a-18408643) - [audi.com](https://www.audi.com/de/unternehmenshistorie-17227)