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Ferdinand Piech (1937-2019): The man who made VW global

Towering among his peers, a giant of the auto industry died Sunday night in Rosenheim/Upper Bavaria, Germany. Ferdinand Piech, a grandson of Ferdinand Porsche, who conceived the original Volkswagen in the 1930s, was the most polarizing automotive executive of our times. And one who brought automotive technology further than anyone else. Ferdinand Porsche had a son, Ferdinand (called "Ferry"), and a daughter, Louise, who married the Viennese lawyer Anton Piech. They gave birth to Ferdinand Piech, and his proximity to two Alfa Romeo sports cars — Porsche had done some work for the Italians — and the "Berlin-Rome-Berlin" race car, developed by Porsche himself, gave birth to Piech's interest in cars. After his teachers in Salzburg told his mother he was "too stupid" to attend school there, Piech, who was open about his dyslexia, was sent to a boarding school in Switzerland. He subsequently moved on to Porsche, where he fixed issues with the 904 race car and did major work on the 911. But his greatest project was the Le Mans-winning 917 race car, developed at breathtaking financial cost. It annihilated the competition, but the family had had enough: Amid growing tension among the four cousins working at Porsche and Piech's uncle Ferry, the family decided to pull every family member, except for Ferry, out of their management positions. Piech started his own consultancy business, where he designed the famous five-cylinder diesel for Mercedes-Benz, but quickly moved on to Audi, first as an engineer and then as CEO, where he set out to transform the dull brand into a technology leader. Piech killed the Wankel engine and hammered out a number of ambitious and sophisticated technologies. Among them: The five-cylinder gasoline engine; Quattro all-wheel drive and Audi's fantastic rally successes; and turbocharging, developed with Fritz Indra, whom Piech recruited from Alpina. The Audi 100/200/5000 became the world's fastest production sedan, thanks to their superior aerodynamics. Piech also launched zinc-coated bodies for longevity — and gave diesel technology a decisive boost with the advent of the fast and ultra-efficient TDI engines. Less known: Piech also decided to put larger gas tanks into cars. Customers loved it. Piech's first-generation Audi V8 was met with derision by competitors; it was too obviously based on the 200/5000.

Lamborghini Aventador SV Roadster gets chilly shakedown

It was only days ago that Lamborghini gave the Aventador Superveloce its official debut at the Geneva Motor Show, but apparently the Italian brand has been hard at work on the next variant too. For those that want a 740-horsepower, 6.5-liter V12 singing a sweet song just behind their ears with the top down, then Lambo is testing an SV Roadster in the arctic. While the model is wearing copious camouflage and some very cool spotlights, the removable roof panel is still fairly obvious in several of these spy photos. Beyond the top, it doesn't look like Lambo is doing much to the body design, though. All of the pieces here can also be found on the SV coupe. There's no word when the SV Roadster might debut. Although with the standard model already complete, development of the convertible probably shouldn't take too long. The official unveiling might even be before the end of the year, especially with the coupe beginning sales in Europe in the spring. Featured Gallery Lamborghini Aventador SV Roadster Spy Shots Image Credit: CarPix Design/Style Spy Photos Lamborghini Convertible Performance Supercars lamborghini aventador sv lamborghini aventador lp 750-4 superveloce lamborghini aventador sv roadster

Lamborghini Veneno could be yours for just $11 million

How could an automaker charge over three million euros for a single automobile, no matter how rare or extreme? That's what we wondered when Lamborghini took the wraps off the Veneno at the Geneva Motor Show, with a price tag working out to over $4 million US using exchange rates at the time. But that suddenly seems downright reasonable when you see how much this owner is asking for one. Listed for sale on a German website by a broker in Japan, this particular Veneno is accompanied by an asking price of ˆ9.98 million. That works out to over $11 million at current rates, or a good three times what it originally cost when new, depending on which currency you're going by. Either way, that's one heck of a markup for a car now three years old, even if it only has about 840 kilometers (522 miles) on the odometer. You'd think, considering its lofty asking price, the seller could have provided some decent pictures, but apparently not. Lamborghini made only three examples of the Veneno coupe for public consumption, and this example is said to be the second. With the other two sold to owners here in the United States (in Long Island and Miami), this appears to be the one sold to a customer in China, and was previously spotted in Hong Kong on its way to Macau. No matter which way you look at it, the Veneno is a rare beast... even counting the nine roadsters that followed with an even more bullish price tag. Put in that context, the ˆ1.75m-euro ($1.9m) sticker price worn by the Centenario revealed in Geneva this year – also based on the Aventador with a more extreme design – seems like a relative bargain. Related Video: