The late Ferdinand Piëch may have ruled with an iron fist, but he ensured things got done. During his tenure as CEO of the Volkswagen Group from 1993 to 2002, some of the company’s most ambitious engineering projects were approved, culminating in the development of the Bugatti Veyron. He left behind a complicated legacy that included costly vanity efforts, such as the VW Phaeton, and visionary projects like the XL1.
