Piech left a large legacy

He was one of the best.

I remember my first meeting with Ferdinand Piech, when he was a rising star at Audi after having been booted out of Porsche along with the rest of his family.

When I asked him how far we were, at that moment, from the East German border, he said with a wry smile that I saw often during our relationship, "Oh, about five hours by Russian tank." If they left now, he told me, they would be here by breakfast. For me, he always had a very dry sense of humor — but boy was he smart.

The world lost one of the very few great product planners when Piech died on Sunday, Aug. 25, at 82. He was a part of the Porsche family and had long ago made his mark as an engineer. He ended up as chairman of Volkswagen for many years through some of the most turbulent times at Europe's largest automaker.

But for all of his foibles, he simply was a great engineer. He did not suffer fools lightly, ever.

He could diagnose a car with meticulous detail, and he applied the same fervor to racing that he did to everything else.

He did not have much interest in second place.

His was a very complicated life, but I always was surprised at his varied interests.

He had many children, almost too many to count, along with a series of wives who went with his offspring.

But in spite of his uniqueness, he instilled loyalty in his employees and associates. When he and his engineers were off on a driving session to evaluate a new car, there was a passion and a loyalty he generated almost without exception. He would be the first to start and the last to finish — and he generated some of the best vehicles in the auto business.

"Tough" and "passionate" would be a couple of ways to describe his style. When he was inducted into the Automotive Hall of Fame in Detroit several years ago, although he was not there in person, he delivered a talk to the crowd, but in German — something that surprised everyone, except some of us who expected it.

He was a unique individual who steered VW through all sorts of tough times. He was one of a kind.