The now ex Volkswagen chairman Ferdinand Piech.

Ferdinand Piech, the man who has resigned from the position of chairman at Volkswagen during the weekend, has planted the seeds for his own demise when he stepped over his promised words to support VW’s CEO Martin Winterkorn and plotted secretly to oust him from his role instead. When news last week leaked out that Piech has been trying to convince his family members behind the eyes of the company, to offer the chief executive of Porsche, Matthias Mueller the CEO position in VW. Following this the Lower Saxony governor and the works council of the company decided that they’ve had enough.

Both parties requested an emergency meeting of senior board members and this was the second emergency summit in VW in less than a week. “It was a step too far,” said a source close to one of VW’s board labor representatives to Reuters when talking about Piech’s attempt to convince his family members to take on Mueller and fire Winterkorn.

During Saturday at the airport in Braunschweig which is half hour away from Volkswagen’s office in Wolfsburg, Piech was given an ultimatum which said: either resign or suffer the shame of being kicked out by the vote of board members from the company.

Piech, the senior board members, nor the company wanted to give comments on the resignation, which was announced by the committee of board leaders and VW. The departure of now former chairman Piech is an end of an era for the company. The 78 year old Austrian has ruled Volkswagen for over two decades like it was his own personal property, sacking executives that he didn’t like or disagreed with and making controversial decisions and plans with sheer force. His shocking ejection from the company has ended the two long weeks of mudslinging inside VW.

The ejection of Piech is leaving a great void at the top of the largest carmaker in Europe and a barrage of questions about the future and shape of the company. The most urging question of them all is who will take Piech’s place as chairman. Winterkorn has been seen as a natural successor for a long time, but the question remains, will his confrontations with Piech damage his chances of leadership? Winterkorn is now free from Piech, however his future now rests in the hands of the unions who have saved his career.