ooooIYKYK, ISSUE #0006
There’s a story about Ferdinand Piëch, the grandson of Ferdinand Porsche, former head of Audi, effective father of the quattro program and genuine mogul in the car industry. Piëch was from the most royal of automotive legacies and had a piercing stare that many of his former underlings feared. Fortunately, he also tended to have great instinct.
Back to that story, it was told to me by an auto executive over a decade ago. At the time, Piëch was at the top of his game running the Volkswagen Group. He was in a meeting where a particular new engine was being pitched, and his advisors were telling him the company couldn’t afford to underwrite the development of a potent new diesel engine. So, Ferdinand pulled out his personal checkbook and asked, “How much?”
This week’s continuation of the Mittelmotor Saga series sees Piëch earlier in his career and having to answer to the Volkswagen AG Board of Directors, strategizing to make the secretive Audi Group S project happen whether they agreed or not. That sort of shoot-from-the-hip strategy worked in the 80s, but in today’s world of corporate compliance, committees and cataloguing of everything as social media relevant, the project likely would have never gotten as far as it did.
The theme applies to the F1 V10 news also from this week. Formula 1 is considering changing its planned engine rules, shifting the formula from small displacement hybrid to V10. While fans and car enthusiasts love the idea, Audi isn’t so enthused. Why? Shooting from the hip isn’t the practice today, and high operational efficiencies mean there’s little patience for throwing away years of engine development and the budgets that went with it before it even has a chance to run.
The magic here is doing cool things and making them pencil, i.e. making them a solid business decision. Even in the hedonism of the 1980s, Piëch still had to make things pencil with the Volkswagen Board. Yes, he was an heir to a dynasty and independently had accrued massive wealth. These things made him even more potent at calling his own shots, but the pencil remained.
This is the balance. Do cool things. Make it pencil. Doing just one of these things never works. Doing them both… that’s the magic.
NEXT UP: THIS WEEK’S NEWS & FEATURES
DON’T MISS UPCOMING EVENTS
04.03 – Audi Club Eastern Canada: Car Pix, Ontario, Canada – Club Activity
04.04-04.05 – Radwood at Autofair, Charlotte Motor Speedway, Charlotte, NC – Concours
04.04-04.06 – F1 Lenovo Grand Prix of Japan, Suzuka Circuit, Japan – F1
04.04-04.06 – GT World Challenge, Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit, Australia – GT3
04.05 – Audi Club Arizona Kitt Peak Observatory, Tucson, AZ – Club Activity
04.05 – Audi Club Kansas City Cars & Coffee at the Speedway, Kansas City, KS – Club Activity
04.05 – Audi Club Carolinas at Cars & Coffee Wilmington, Wilmington, NC – Club Activity
04.05-04.06 – British GT Championship, Donington Park, UK – GT3
04.06 – 43i Cruise-In Celebrating Ken Block, Petersen Automotive Museum, Los Angeles, CA – Enthusiast Event
ALL WEEK – People’s Champ: The Impact of Ken Block at The Petersen Museum, CA – INFO
Know of an Audi-themed event that hasn’t been included? Drop a note in the comments below or via a PM to one of our @ooooIYKYK social channels.
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