DailyKanban

Dr. Carl Hahn. picture courtesy Yahoo.Finance

Sadly, Dr. Carl Hahn, one of Volkswagen’s best CEOs, left us last week at the age of 96. I had the honor of working for him when I was a very young copywriter, and when he was the CEO of Continental Tires. I also worked for on the Volkswagen account a lot after Hahn returned to Volkswagen in 1982. Hahn was famous for having turned the Beetle from a Nazi car into an American cult, and for bringing Volkswagen to China, now by far the largest market of Volkswagen’s empire. Back when, and now in many eulogies, Hahn was praised for his long-term strategic thinking and foresight.

Here is the truth about Volkswagen and China, as told to me by Hahn’s right hand man and multipurpose executive Werner “W.P.” Schmidt, who also departed from the living a few years ago.

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