Do You Know Him? Meet The Smartest Leader In The Whole Automotive Industry

These are brutally difficult times for automakers worldwide, but as crises go, this one could be a lot worse for Wendelin Wiedeking, Porsche's chief executive for the past 16 years.

Thanks to an astute mixture of long-term strategic foresight and short-term financial wizardry, Wiedeking has Porsche headed into this downturn in an extraordinarily strong position. The company is sitting on a $20 billion mountain of capital - more money than the U.S. government is injecting into GM, Ford, and Chrysler combined.

More important, Wiedeking, 58, has secured Porsche's future through an audacious David vs. Goliath takeover of Volkswagen, Germany' largest automaker and a company that has so far weathered the crisis better than most of its peers. "Wiedeking very cleverly purchased a life insurance policy for Porsche by buying VW," says Peter Schmidt, an auto consultant based in Britain. "He's a brilliant, focused leader who grabbed VW for peanuts and is making a fortune out of it."

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ubercool - 1/27/2009 2:27:40 PM

-6 Boost

Porsche are playing it dirty i'm afraid, other European countries are not allowed to do what they have been up to, it's unfair for the other manufacturers outside of Germany!

golfer38 - 1/27/2009 4:37:30 PM

+5 Boost

How do you label his genius as dirty? It seems that some European regulations need to be changed if an entity has an unfair advantage in the market, but I certainly wouldn't fault a company or leader for using that advantage.

VISO - 1/27/2009 5:48:04 PM

-2 Boost

This may be true for now, but eventually Porsche will be swallowed up by VAG as has been written previously becoming a brand of VAG.

S4cabriofoxone - 1/27/2009 11:04:41 PM

+3 Boost

I doubt it. I hope Porsche remains independent.

Jordanski - 1/27/2009 6:21:32 PM

+3 Boost

why is this post NOT about chris bangle???

mini22 - 1/27/2009 6:27:04 PM

+3 Boost

The only reason for Porsche to listed as a brand of VAG would be to satisfy the upcoming Euro regs on c02 emmissions.Porsche will still be majority owner of VAG but my guess is that they will form a different holding company.

Type707 - 1/28/2009 12:11:28 AM

+1 Boost

How is he able to do it you may ask??? By giving free mustache rides to the board of directors.