Early Years
Hahn was born in the German state of Saxony and raised near Chemnitz. His father had been a senior manager of DKW and Auto Union, which later evolved into the Audi car brand. As a college student in Europe, he studied business administration at the University of Cologne and the University of Zurich; he also studied economics and politics in Great Britain and France. Hahn got his doctorate in Economics at the University of Berne in Switzerland. Before joining Volkswagen, he first worked as an economist in Paris.
Hahn joined VW in 1953 as an assistant of chairman Heinrich Nordhoff, and he quickly became head of sales promotion in VW's export department. Hahn was a favorite of Nordhoff's, and the chairman made him president of the company's U.S. subsidiary, Volkswagen of America, in 1958.
Read more about this topic: Carl Hahn
Famous quotes containing the words early and/or years:
“To be candid, in Middlemarch phraseology, meant, to use an early opportunity of letting your friends know that you did not take a cheerful view of their capacity, their conduct, or their position; and a robust candour never waited to be asked for its opinion.”
—George Eliot [Mary Ann (or Marian)
“I put away my brushes; resolutely crucified my divine gift, and while it hung writhing on the cross, spent my best years and powers cooking cabbage. “A servant of servants shall she be,” must have been spoken of women, not Negroes.”
—Jane Grey Swisshelm, U.S. newspaperwoman, abolitionist, and human rights activist. Half a Century, ch. 8 (1880)