Obituary: Former Continental CEO Carl Hahn

Although his name is first and foremost associated with Volkswagen, Continental also credits Prof. Dr Carl Horst Hahn, who died last weekend at the age of 96, as being one of the “formative personalities” behind the automotive supplier and tyre maker’s “success story.”

After Hahn – who’d been with Volkswagen since 1954 – left the vehicle manufacturer due to strategic differences, he took over as chief executive officer and chairman of Continental’s Executive Board in 1973. At the time Continental was, in the company’s own words, experiencing its “biggest and longest crisis to date.” Not only had the manufacturer slipped behind the competition due to its delayed adoption of steel belted tyre technology, a revaluation of the German mark had made inexpensive imported tyres much more attractive in Continental’s domestic market and a general economic downturn was causing additional problems. Following a collapse in demand that is rumoured to have halved the company’s market share, in 1972 Continental recorded a loss in the tens of millions.

But as Hahn’s biography states, during his tenure he helped the tyre maker “achieve a successful turnaround” and began to transform it from a purely German company into a global supplier of tyres and technical rubber products – at least until 1982, when he returned to the Volkswagen Group. Hahn then served there for eleven years as chairman of the Board of Management and from 1992 to 1997 as a member of the Supervisory Board.

After leaving VW, he became chairman of Swiss engineering group Saurer AG from 1993 to 1996 and was a member of numerous companies’ supervisory boards. Hahn was also active in and for various political, cultural and social organisations, and in 2006 was inducted into the European Automotive Hall of Fame. “Carl Hahn was a great visionary and a great personality. For four decades he set the course at Volkswagen and laid foundations for today’s company success. In the US, the VW Beetle became an icon. As Management Board member in charge of sales, he was instrumental in founding the premium brand Audi. And in a figurative sense he became one of the fathers of the “Generation Golf.” As chairman of the Board of Management, he developed Volkswagen into an international, multi-brand group and, above all, demonstrated strategic vision with his involvement in China. After Germany’s reunification, Saxony became a state-of-the-art location under his leadership. Volkswagen AG and Wolfsburg owe Carl Hahn a great debt of gratitude and mourn with his family,” said Oliver Blume, current chairman of Volkswagen’s Board of Management, paying tribute to Hahn’s work at the vehicle manufacturer.