Question: what do all the following cars have in common?
Porsche Carrera
Audi Quattro
VW TDI
Porsche 917
VW Golf VR6
Mercedes 350 S Turbodiesel
VW Phaeton
Bugatti Veyron
Lamborghini Aventador
Bentley Continental Speed GT
VW XL1
Here’s the answer to the question: a crazy Austrian who gave the world its best cars from the 1960s until… well, yesterday.
In my opinion, the only mistake he ever made was a marketing one: positioning the Phaeton as the VW Phaeton, instead of (say) an Audi A12. Had he done the latter, Audi would still be selling them.
Never let an engineer near the marketing plan.
never let a marketing man near the engineering department.
You get the Fiat Multipla, or modern day Boeing.
I saw a Phaeton on the road once, my companions could not understand my excitement at seeing a big VW sedan.
“Never let an engineer near the marketing plan.”
and as jwenting points out
….. and the corollary – Keep the marketing people away from the engineering dept.
Except for people like Piech and his cousin Ferdinand “Butzi” Porsche. ( 904 design )
Most of the people in the Porsche Club know who Pieche is. Members of both families often attend the Parade ( PCA annual gathering ) and events like Rennsport.
The Piechesode or any other video done by Jason Cammisa is never time wasted. Listening to him and Jason Tam-Scott (AKA Hyphen) in the Carmudgeon Show is one of my weekly MUST LISTEN to YouTube subscriptions.