Carl Hahn - Legacy

Legacy

Though Hahn was applauded for making the Volkswagen Golf the most popular car in Europe, and expanding the company through the SEAT and Škoda acquisitions, Volkswagen was in financial trouble by the end of his tenure as chairman, having lost 770 million marks in the eighties surge of the European car market, maintaining a low after-tax profit margin of 2.8 percent. Pre-tax profits went from three billion marks in 1989 to 1.785 billion marks just three years later. The problem was simple enough; Hahn could not keep manufacturing and development costs under control. The Volkswagen board decided that Hahn had been at the helm of Volkswagen too long, and replaced him with Piech.

Many people who knew or observed Hahn agreed he was a brilliant but flawed leader. Former Volkswagen of America president Bill Young, in an interview with journalist David Kiley, explained Hahn's record as chairman of VW: "Dr. Hahn had a lot on his plate in the 1980s, and an organization that he was not suited or equipped to turn upside down the way Piech did." Automotive journalist David E. Davis offered a mixed review: "Hahn is a terrific man, and he did a lot of good things for Volkswagen, but he obviously lost interest in the American market by the time he came back in the 1980s based on the lack of attention the American division got."

Dr. Hahn's reputation has bounced back since his retirement, however, as the SEAT and Škoda brands have gone on to be an asset to the company, and his efforts to expand into China have also enhanced VW's worldwide stature. In Spain, SEAT not only made a profit two years after Volkswagen bought a majority of its stock but also provided a low-cost manufacturing outlet for other VAG group models as well as an opportunity to enter the unexploited by that time Spanish market under both SEAT and VW brand names; moreover during his presence in the VW leadership took place the construction of the SEAT's new plant in Martorell.

Dr. Hahn remains a respected businessman, and he is in demand as a public speaker.