Carl Hahn
| Dr. Carl Horst Hahn | |
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| Born |
1 July 1926 Chemnitz, Saxony, Germany |
| Known for | chairman emeritus of Volkswagen Group |
Dr. Carl Horst Hahn (born 1 July 1926) is chairman emeritus of the automotive concern Volkswagen Group. He served as the Chairman of the Board of Management of the group's parent company, Volkswagen AG (formerly Volkswagenwerk AG) from 1982 to 1993. During his tenure as chairman, he expanded the group's car production from two million units in 1982 to 3.5 million a decade later.
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 1959.
Under Hahn's leadership, Volkswagen of America began a national advertising campaign to attract more attention to its quirky Beetle sedan and Microbus wagon. Hahn soon hired the Doyle Dane Bernbach ad agency, which created some of the most memorable car ads in history. Its print and television ads for the Volkswagen brand respected the customer's intelligence, gave detailed information about Volkswagen's products, and made fun of the unorthodox qualities of the cars. The ads became cultural icons as much as the cars did, and Volkswagen enjoyed phenomenal sales in the U.S. in the 1960s and early 1970s. Hahn became a beloved figure in the United States before his return to Germany in 1965, having been affectionately nicknamed "Mr. Volkswagen" by VW enthusiasts. While stationed in America, Hahn married the sister of romance novelist Danielle Steel, and their four children were all born in the U.S.
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