Then last month Mr Piech bought a 34% stake in Scania, a Swedish lorry firm which had sought to merge with Volvo Truck Corporation.
Indeed, the most striking figure in Hohn's blistering letter is the detail that VW's head of trucks made €15m in 2015 whereas the entire eight-strong executive board of Swedish lorry firm Scania, before it was absorbed into VW in 2014, received a combined €7m.
The French transport minister, Jean-Claude Gayssot, who gave the lorry firms a possible way out of the impasse through a complex tax mechanism that would largely offset future price rises, appealed for an end to the campaign.
Unloading - Park lorry on level firm ground if possible allowing plenty of space to approach squarely with forklift/ tractor.
And the Renault and Volvo brands, with their common emphasis on safety, fit together well.Another possible buyer is Volvo Group, the lorry-making parent firm that sold its car unit to Ford in 1999.
Rhys is out driving when he is telephoned by his secretary Ruth Patti Claree), who informs him that one of their firm's lorry drivers has crashed.
Many take part in regular slow walks in front of lorries from the energy firm, iGas, which can force the drivers to take two hours over the half-mile trip to the main road.
The Shore Porters Societyy, now a transport firm, whose lorries can be seen all over Europe, was founded in 1498, but for much of its history it was a semi-public body controlled by the town of Aberdeen, only gaining full independence in 1850.
Further tests on sensors and software systems will be carried out in the New Year on lorries used by firms constructing Crossrail and the EM Highways road maintenance company.
Many locals, who were told the presence of these companies would improve their lives, now blame the swift degeneration of the roads on the weight of foreign firms' lorries laden with the Liberia's bounty.Back in Monrovia, smiles return as the rain finally stops.
When he left school, Waddington joined the family firm as a lorry driver, occasionally working in the refinery.
