On the occasion of his 90th birthday, Carl H. Hahn junior – in collaboration with Peter Kirchberg – published a book entitled “DKW­ Hahn” about his father who had gained fame as the “motor” of DKW. Based in Zschopau/Germany, the company advanced in the 1920s to become the world’s biggest motorcycle producer. Hahn senior was one of the co-founders of Auto Union, which was formed from the amalgamation of Audi, Wanderer, Horch and DKW in 1932 in the wake of the world economic crisis.

Hahn devoted his professional life to the automotive industry and, for half a century played a decisive role in the shaping of Volkswagen’s development. Under his guidance the company grew into Europe’s biggest automobile corporation, globally positioned for the world of the 21st century. His book entitled “Meine Jahre mit Volkswagen”(“My Years at Volkswagen”) is thus more than an autobiography, more than a collection of memoirs.

The book provides the millions of automobile fans – especially, of course, those of Volkswagen, Audi, Seat and Skoda – with a wealth of historical details on these leading brands. At the same time it recounts an exemplary policy of globalization and divisionalization which made Volkswagen Group the key economic factor in many countries and created tens of thousands of jobs at national and international levels. There were many other companies too, for which this policy opened up new opportunities in the global markets.

The book is a unique source of information for everyone interested in economic backgrounds in general and in particular in the automobile industry – and is also interesting for the general public.