by Rolls-Royce Holdings, and was thought to be the most valuable part of the division. After tensions had formed between the two companies, VW later sold the Spirit of Ecstasy and Rolls-Royce grille shape trademarks to BMW, which allowed them to found Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, and produce a new line of cars that were unrelated to their predecessors, with all of the traditional Rolls-Royce styling cues. Although Piëch later claimed that he only really wanted the Bentley brand, as it was the higher volume brand, out-selling the equivalent Rolls-Royce by around two to one, the loss of the intellectual property rights for Rolls-Royce to rival BMW was widely seen as a major failure. What was not a failure, however, was his effort to revitalize Volkswagen in North America. Hahn's previous efforts to regain market share in North America – which he had built up as the head of Volkswagen of America from 1958 to 1965 – were unsuccessful, but Piëch helped reverse VW's fortunes by the decision to manufacture the Volkswagen New Beetle, the introduction of which in 1998 gave Volkswagen of America a much needed impulse, after years of selling competent, but bland offerings in the US. Due to his continued influence in the auto industry, Automobile Magazine announced that Piëch has won their Man of the Year award for 2011. Engineering At Porsche, Piëch triggered significant changes in the company's policy. For example, the position of drivers in race cars was moved from the left to the right, as this gives advantages on the predominantly clockwise race tracks. After making mainly small race cars that were supposed to be closely related to road cars, Porsche made a risky investment by unexpectedly building twenty-five Porsche 917, surprising the rule makers at the FIA. Even Ferrari had needed to sell his company to Fiat before making such a move. Always thinking big, Piëch started development of a 16-cylinder engine for the Can-Am series. It is probably no coincidence that his grandfather had developed a famous supercharged 16-cylinder engine for the Auto Union racing cars in the 1930s. Piëch was denied the chance to complete it, as a turbocharged version of the existing 12-cylinder was simpler, more powerful and very successful. Three decades later as CEO of Volkswagen Group, Piëch insisted on the very ambitious Bugatti Veyron, with a turbocharged W16-cylinder, and top speed. Some of these figures are still not