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VW names replacements for Piëch and wife

April 30, 2015

Auto giant VW on Thursday named two women to replace ousted chairman Ferdinand Piëch and his wife. Louise Kiesling and Julia Kuhn-Piëch are arriving in the wake of Piëch's power struggle with CEO Martin Winterkorn.

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Julia Kuhn-Piech and Louise Kiesling Bildcombo
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/Getty Images/DW-Montage

Volkswagen announced on Thursday that an administrative court of Braunschweig has ordered the two women to take over with immediate effect.

The move means that the VW board has achieved its target of making 30 percent of the board female a year ahead of schedule.

Kiesling is 57 years old, and graduated in fashion design from the Vienna University of Applied Arts and automobile design from the Royal College of Art, London. She has worked as a designer in Germany, Austria, and the UK. She is a partner and managing director in several companies, including Austrian textile manufacturer Backhausen.

Unforeseen End of an Era for Ferdinand Piëch

Julia Kuhn-Piëch is a 34-year-old real estate saleswoman from Salzburg, and sits on the supervisory council of VW subsidiary MAN. She studied law and property management at the Technical University of Vienna.

bk/hg (dpa, Reuters)