Audi brooms out board

Citing a need for a fresh start, Audi has swept away four of its board members at a single stroke as it struggles to move beyond a series of scandals.

The ground zero of the Dieselgate emissions-cheating conspiracy, Audi has replaced its board members for Finance, Production, Human Resources and Sales.

The latter, Dietmar Voggenreiter, only last week announced a controversial and complicated new two-digit naming and badging format for all new Audis, which will begin with the upcoming A8.

“The departing Board of Management members helped to shape Audi’s positive development,” Volkswagen Group CEO and Chairman of Audi’s Supervisory Board, Matthias Müller, said in a statement.

“Audi has recently passed through a difficult phase, but has all the prerequisites to be successful also in the mobility world of tomorrow.

“Together with the workforce, the new team in the Board of Management will systematically push forward with Audi’s transformation towards the future.”

But that future remains as unclear as who did what, and when, with the Dieselgate scandal that began as Audi’s so-called “Acoustic Mode”. It is also trying to overcome a crisis in its Chinese operations with its joint-venture partner, FAW, which it has tried to quell with a €300 million compensation package.

It is also on its fourth director of development in as many years and has seen the A6 struggling late in its production cycle and is watching the ultra-conservative A4 being soundly beaten in sales by its arch-rival Mercedes-Benz C-Class.

However, insiders insist Audi Chairman Rupert Stadler remains because he has the backing of the Porsche and Piech families that control the Volkswagen Group’s voting stock, and has the confidence of Volkswagen Group CEO Müller. He received a new five-year contact in May.

Less fortunate were finance boss Axel Strotbek, production head Hubert Waltl, Voggenreiter and HR honcho Thomas Sigi. In Strotbek’s place comes 55-year-old Alexander Seitz, who was vice-president of SAIC Volkswagen in China.

Peter Koessler, 58, takes over production duties from Waltl after running Audi’s key factory facilities in Hungary, while 56-year-old Dutchman Bram Schot will migrate across from his role in Volkswagen Commercial Vehicle sales and marketing to the Audi directorship.

Key Müller ally Wendelin Goebel, 53, will take over from Sigi in HR, moving from heading up the Volkswagen Group’s management board office.

While Audi has refused to give any specific reasons for the boardroom coup, the company has struggled with direction and confidence since the Dieselgate scandal erupted in September, 2015.

“Our shared goal with the new Board of Management team and a strong workforce is now to set the course for the future and to systematically move forward with our transformation towards e-mobility, digitisation and mobility services,” CEO Stadler said.

“Our growth plan and Strategy 2025 provide the roadmap.”

Audi is also under pressure from its works council to ensure continued employment at its Neckarsulm factory, which sources say is trying to have the R8’s production replaced with an electric car to cover any sudden market move away from internal-combustion engines.

“The past weeks show that an open and critical dialog is an essential basis for the future of Audi,” said Peter Mosch, Chairman of the General Works Council and a Member of Audi’s Supervisory Board.

“It has become clear that this is about the consistent orientation of the company. That includes the optimal utilisation of the plants’ capacities.

“The upcoming transformation must be shaped so that both business success and the interests of the workforce are sustainably balanced.”