<p>Volkswagen's powerful ex-chairman Ferdinand Piech, credited with the carmaker's rise from the brink of bankruptcy to world leader status, has died aged 82, his wife said Monday.</p>.<p>"My husband... died suddenly and unexpectedly on August 25" after a life "marked by a passion for cars and the employees who build them," Ursula Piech said in a brief statement sent by her lawyer to AFP, confirming earlier German press reports.</p>.<p>According to several media including the Bild newspaper and DPA news agency, Piech died Sunday night at a hospital in Rosenheim in Bavaria, where he was admitted after collapsing at a restaurant in front of his wife.</p>.<p>Born in Vienna, Piech led VW from 1993 to 2002 before becoming head of the supervisory board until 2015.</p>.<p>He left amid the so-called "dieselgate" scandal when it was discovered the company fit millions of cars with devices allowing them to fool exhaust emissions tests.</p>.<p>In 2017, Piech signed a deal to sell most of his stake -- worth about a billion euros ($1.1 billion) in VW parent company Porsche SE to other members of the Porsche-Piech family -- a motoring dynasty descended from the inventor of the VW Beetle.</p>.<p>Piech reportedly claimed that company chiefs including then CEO Martin Winterkorn, knew about emissions cheating earlier than they admitted.</p>.<p>Piech was the grandson of Ferdinand Porsche, inventor of the iconic Beetle and founder of luxury sports carmaker Porsche.</p>.<p>It was at Porsche that Piech began his career at the start of the 1960s, switching to Audi, VW's top-of-the-range carmaker, in 1972 and becoming its chairman in 1988 before taking over the VW group five years later.</p>.<p>Reputed as having an autocratic management style, he was referred to as "Mr Volkswagen".</p>
<p>Volkswagen's powerful ex-chairman Ferdinand Piech, credited with the carmaker's rise from the brink of bankruptcy to world leader status, has died aged 82, his wife said Monday.</p>.<p>"My husband... died suddenly and unexpectedly on August 25" after a life "marked by a passion for cars and the employees who build them," Ursula Piech said in a brief statement sent by her lawyer to AFP, confirming earlier German press reports.</p>.<p>According to several media including the Bild newspaper and DPA news agency, Piech died Sunday night at a hospital in Rosenheim in Bavaria, where he was admitted after collapsing at a restaurant in front of his wife.</p>.<p>Born in Vienna, Piech led VW from 1993 to 2002 before becoming head of the supervisory board until 2015.</p>.<p>He left amid the so-called "dieselgate" scandal when it was discovered the company fit millions of cars with devices allowing them to fool exhaust emissions tests.</p>.<p>In 2017, Piech signed a deal to sell most of his stake -- worth about a billion euros ($1.1 billion) in VW parent company Porsche SE to other members of the Porsche-Piech family -- a motoring dynasty descended from the inventor of the VW Beetle.</p>.<p>Piech reportedly claimed that company chiefs including then CEO Martin Winterkorn, knew about emissions cheating earlier than they admitted.</p>.<p>Piech was the grandson of Ferdinand Porsche, inventor of the iconic Beetle and founder of luxury sports carmaker Porsche.</p>.<p>It was at Porsche that Piech began his career at the start of the 1960s, switching to Audi, VW's top-of-the-range carmaker, in 1972 and becoming its chairman in 1988 before taking over the VW group five years later.</p>.<p>Reputed as having an autocratic management style, he was referred to as "Mr Volkswagen".</p>