VW Chairman Piech Plans to Stay Until at Least 2017

Ferdinand Piech tells Bild am Sonntag he expects to remain Volkswagen AG chairman for five to seven more years.

Piech, 75, tells the German newspaper he has asked CEO Martin Winterkorn to let him launch the next-generation Golf small car, which is due between 2017 and 2019.

In April VW shareholders elected Piech to a third term as chairman, which runs until December 2016. He is a member of the company's founding family, which holds a 30% equity stake in VW. His wife Ursula also joined the company's supervisory board this spring.

Piech worked for affiliates Audi and Porsche for 29 years before serving nine years as VW CEO. Since retiring from that post in 2002, he has ruled the company with an iron fist as chairman, analysts note. Executives who oppose his wishes are quickly ousted, as CEO Bernd Pischetsrieder learned in 2006.