Louise Piëch

Louise Hedwig Anna Wilhelmine Maria Piëch (née Porsche; 29 August 1904, in Vienna – 10 February 1999, in Zell am See) was an Austrian businesswoman and a member of the Porsche family. She was the daughter of automotive engineer Ferdinand Porsche and Aloisia Johanna Kaes, and the elder sister of Ferry Porsche.

In 1928, she married Anton Piëch, a Viennese lawyer who was legal adviser to the Porsche family and, from 1941 to 1945, one of the chief managers of the Volkswagen works at KdF-Stadt.

In October 1943, at Louise Piëch's initiative, the Austrian assets of Porsche KG Stuttgart were transferred to her and her husband Anton Piëch and incorporated into the newly founded Porsche Konstruktionen Ges.m.b.H., based in Gmünd. In 1947, Louise Piëch and Ferry Porsche formally established the Austrian company Porsche Konstruktionen GesmbH in Gmünd and served as its directors while their father was detained in France. Porsche Newsroom describes Piëch as one of Austria's most successful businesswomen and as a major figure in the development of Porsche Salzburg, which later became one of Europe's largest automotive distribution companies.

Personal life and death Piëch was known within the Porsche family for her enthusiasm for fast cars, and Ferry Porsche gave her the first road-going Porsche 911 with a turbocharger, the 911 Turbo “No. 1”, for her 70th birthday in 1974. She also painted landscapes and was interested in hunting.

Louise Piëch died on 10 February 1999 in Zell am See, aged 94. She was buried in the private chapel at the Schüttgut estate in Zell am See, following Porsche family tradition.

Honours Piëch received several Austrian and German honours. According to Deutsche Biographie, she was appointed Kommerzialrätin in 1959, became an honorary senator of the Vienna University of Technology in 1976, received the Great Cross of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany in 1979, the Ring of the City of Salzburg in 1984, and the Grand Decoration of Honour in Gold for Services to the Republic of Austria in 1994.