Markus Liebherr

He was born one of five children and was the son of Hans Liebherr, who started the company Liebherr, one of the world's leading manufacturers of construction machinery, set up over 60 years ago in Germany. Markus Liebherr studied mechanical engineering and had an increased interest in special agricultural vehicles. He was given equal shares in the German holding company in the 1980s when the business moved its management headquarters to Switzerland, with his siblings Hubert, Willi and Isolde. He later handed most of his shares back to his family, and ran his own group of companies, the Mali Group, from 1994 until his death. He founded the company in Heinrichsburg near Eberhardzell in the district of Biberach in Upper Swabia. After the Bavarian tractor manufacturer Anton Schlüter München ceased production in the early 1990s, Mali developed an unofficial successor. Liebherr had previously equipped some Schlüter tractors with Liebherr engines. Only a few prototypes of the two models of the Mali trac with 250 and 300 hp were built, although the concept with suspended front axle, 50 km/h top speed, large cab with rotating operator's platform and removable power lift and hydraulic block was groundbreaking.