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300mpg, on the road – Part two, the drive

2 weeks ago

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Writer:

Dr Ulrich Eichhorn | Engineer

Date:

2 December 2024

In the first part of my story about the creation of the so-called ‘1-litre car’ I wrote about the initial challenge of creating the car itself. But as it turned out, after that the challenge kept getting more… challenging. For instance, when Dr Piëch realised we were going to achieve our target he kept raising the bar, which was entirely typical of him.

First it was ‘I will drive the car while I’m still head of VW’, which, as surely as night follows day, was succeeded by ‘I will drive it on public roads.’ Not just the proving ground, then, which would have been a lot easier. Finally it was ‘I will drive it to the Annual General Meeting in Hamburg’. By which he meant from our Wolfsburg HQ and not starting from the main gate or anything as easy as that, but the car park outside the main headquarters where his office was on the top floor. What had started as little more than a trip around the block was now a journey of some 250km.

But it would be an entirely fitting and understandable ambition as this AGM would be his last as CEO, where he’d hand over to his designated successor Bernd Pischetsrieder and assume the role of Chairman. This also coincided – probably not by coincidence – with his 65th birthday.

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