[GTO]

Forget all the overrated auto CEOs such as Carlos Ghosn (cheapened cars, destroyed Nissan, stole money) or Sergio Marchionne (handled Fiat-Chrysler with the skills of a used car dealer & left them languishing)....meet Ferdinand Piech . The man you can thank for everything from Audi's Quattro to fast VWs, the Bugatti Veyron & Skoda's resurgence from a dead brand to TDI engines, the good health of Porsche & Lamborghini to dual-clutch ATs.

A fitting tribute to a great man by Jason Cammisa. The quality of production & commentary will remind you of the heydays of Clarkson @ Top Gear. I've already watched it thrice .

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1KKiqibOxoc

[14000rpm]

Originally Posted by GTO

A fitting tribute to a great man by Jason Cammisa. The quality of production & commentary will remind you of the heydays of Clarkson @ Top Gear.

Totally agreed.

1. Cammisa - Amazing Stuff he puts out.
Every Video is very well researched and backed up by excellent Production and Videography by Anthony Esposito.

Jason's research is so intense that he hold any argument and win with facts. Case in point - Jason vs Matt Farah about the Cybertruck. It was a public debate on Smokin tire Podcast.

His silliness adds to the Humor.
He's got a Niche, of sorts- He sticks to European vehicles and topics in which there is so much content. I don't miss any of his Videos.

Imagine the explosion if he delved into American models with the same Gusto. Perhaps there are some older American vehicle related video's I may have missed.

2. Piech - I believe there is more to learn from Jason's Video than from any other source. Brilliant coverage of a true petrolhead which Piech was. An Engineer at his core.

3. Hagerty's channel is truly under-rated. Larry Chen, Henry Catchpole and Jason Cammisa produce some very good content but it is barely getting the views they deserve. Larry focuses on Car Cultures across the world, Henry focuses on Driver-focused cars and entices every corner-hugging driver out there and Jason's Revelations are all some worth-watching videos.
Although I do watch Doug De Muro's 'Quirks and features' videos frequently, I wonder how he gets his millions of views which the Hagerty Channels videos don't.

[GTI]

Another great review by Hagerty and Cammisa as usual.

Piech was a terrifying man. At his time in Mercedes, he was called the 'Rotary Killer'. The man didn't have gas in his veins, his veins were filled with motor oil. An engineer to heart.

And the scene where he gave a speech was chilling. Cammisa summed it perfectly, Piech would've sent a Bond villian crying for his mother

[Turbohead]

We can sort of draw parallels with Steve Jobs. Lots of business and engineering lessons to learn from.

Here's another great set of videos on the VW group and the result of this wild man!

https://youtu.be/omA3HsFl_uM?si=WuZB1U84Llh-pQQu

https://youtu.be/rGfxM8PiW6I?si=miS1vtX62YlPxDS3

I don't think VW will ever be the same. With his departure, they've lost that edge IMO.

[ds.raikkonen]

This one was epic as usual for Jason Cammisa, he does it so well!
He should do one on Christian Von Koenigsegg as well, THE ultimate car guy as of now.

Other amazing YT channels that are equally amazing and dish out amazing well researched content:
a) VinWiki (especially the ones by John Ficarra and his racing stories)
b) Drivetribe (they even get Hammond/May occasionally)
c) Motorsport Podcasts: OMG MotoGP, GypsyTales, Oxley Bom

[ferrarirules]

Originally Posted by GTO

A fitting tribute to a great man by Jason Cammisa. The quality of production & commentary will remind you of the heydays of Clarkson @ Top Gear. I've already watched it thrice

Thanks for sharing. Loved it!! I have experienced some of the VW engineering myself in my past cars - TDI and DSG. As a automobile enthusiast, i have read about or watched quattro, part sharing (mat armstrong's bentley rebuild gives you a lot of insights into it), Veyron's record shattering spree.

I always felt it was VW and German engineering behind it. I never knew it was prowess of one man driving VW to this excellence.

[ads11]

Dr Piech is definitely a titan in the automobile sector and without a shadow of a doubt, he's a titan not just for being a scion of the Porsche family or the exec at the helm of the VAG, but for being an automobile engineer through and through. Be it through his motorsport involvement, or road car divisions or some of the statement road car and supercar projects he was the driving force behind, he deserves to be remembered.

However I'd just like to point out the man was no saint. Iirc he was implicated in the Dieselgate scandal. A man who wanted to know about every nut and bolt in a car didn't know about the institutional corruption in the business - I don't think anyone believes that for a moment. I think he'd kicked the bucket by the time ramifications were being felt at board level and besides, no way would he be put in stocks given his standing in the sector. I'm also pretty sure I've read plenty about how the arcane holding structure of the family group and it's less than clear cut financials have links to Dr Piech. But that might be your average CEO level chicanery with numbers at the end of the day (as we've seen in the case of Ghosn famously, none of them seem to be above this sort of thing).

[GeeTee TSI]

Piech! Who could have dared to sign off on a Mercedes beating 'People's Car (Phaeton) project. Epitome of engineering era is surely missed

[ads11]

Originally Posted by ads11

Dr Piech is definitely a titan...

I should add that I commented before fully watching the video. But glad the host didn't skirt around the obvious implications that Dr Piech was in the know about the Dieselgate scandal.

Originally Posted by GTO

The quality of production & commentary will remind you of the heydays of Clarkson @ Top Gear. I've already watched it thrice .

But as GTO rightly says, what a great film. Really does remind you of old school TG at the peak of the shows power. Fantastic work.

Some of the stories in this are incredible - the Austrian ski slope schlep in a prototype Quattro to prove a point to Audi execs is such a wonderful anecdote I'd not come across before, but totally in keeping with what I know of Dr Piech. I love the story about the Mk4 Golf - seeing as I daily drive one now. The interiors sure have held up well for a 20yo car, granted mine is just a humble 1.6 L 4 pot petrol rather than the V6 R32 or the rattle-y TDi versions. Fun fact about the Mk4 was that it was the first vehicle to come with ISO-Fix child seat mounts.

I will say this - there's blessings and curses when companies become so inexorably tied to the vision of one man. You see this across sectors but in the VAG eg as Jason alludes, the whole group was so driven to the Piech way, marching to his tune that when he stepped out of the frame, look at the mess the company went through. There's no consistency in vision within group companies, let alone across the group. Especially with Such a sprawling empire it truly takes a burly, slightly obnoxious almost sociopathic type to rein in the various factions and get them pulling in one direction.

Ultimately though, I think it might even be fair to say that Dr Piech had more of an impact on the world of motoring than his illustrious forebear, Dr Porshe, when you think about all the innovations and companies that benefitted from his input and played a role in our day to day lives.

[khanak]

Brilliant video as always from Camissa. The Hagerty YT channel is an absolute treasure trove of content. Easily one of my favourites. Btw if you liked the Piechisode, there's a bonus podcast episode that I'd highly recommend -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tA8F2Be4t38

[cooldip]

Since we are talking Ferdinand (referring to the Grand Tour lecture on Ferdinands), I couldn't resist sharing this Acquired Podcast with Doug on Porsche.

Not entirely sure if this has been posted on another thread. Please report if so.

https://youtu.be/V_fYfdXpkx4?si=6hq_yeZR42rfHwbK

Stuff that I learnt

- The dedication to engineering
- The astounding holding structure of VW

Originally Posted by GTO

The quality of production & commentary will remind you of the heydays of Clarkson @ Top Gear.

Agreed! It does seem like a production entirely inspired by the old Top Gear crew.

[14000rpm]

Originally Posted by cooldip

t does seem like a production entirely inspired by the old Top Gear crew.

It is the Trio of Jason Cammisa, Rob Sanders & Anthony Esposito.
Listen to them talk about where and how they started making their Iconic content in Jason's Podcast- The Carmugedon Show.

https://youtu.be/w28cEfI42nk?si=ofCk2mYKVBG-ax4u

[ads11]

Originally Posted by cooldip

- The astounding holding structure of VW

Feel compelled to share this simple (in relative terms at least given the labyrinthine subject matter..) video explainer on the absolute doozy that is the VAG structure. Enjoy!

https://youtu.be/tlfmaBsZQ5U?si=o2zG3v24Jug7L6WR

[kiku007]

Originally Posted by cooldip

Since we are talking Ferdinand (referring to the Grand Tour lecture on Ferdinands), I couldn't resist sharing this Acquired Podcast with Doug on Porsche.

Thanks for sharing. I really enjoyed it. Acquired's podcasts are long, but they are totally worth it if the person/topic is aligned to one's interests. I followed up this one with their interview with Doug DeMuro and that was great.

In the automotive world, it is very rare to have legends who are known for their engineering and management skills. Often times they are known for only either one of these skills and not both. We've seen how engineering geniuses have bankrupted their companies or how shrewd executives save the company from bankruptcy but killed their trademark product qualities.

Ferdinand Piech is that rare legend who is well known for both. The way he outmanoeuvred Wendelin Wiedeking to gain control of Porsche (and VW) is an incredible tale. I would highly recommend the podcast @cooldip shared or this article if you like to read.