Major moves at Audi

Suspended engineering boss Dr Ulrich Hackenberg retired and was replaced, CEO Rupert Stadler fought for his job and a new Supervisory Board Chairman arrived in a momentous Thursday and Friday for Audi.

Volkswagen Group CEO Matthias Müller again replaced Dr Martin Winterkorn, this time as Audi’s Supervisory Board chairman, but it was the sudden retirement of Dr Hackenberg as Audi’s most senior engineer that proved the biggest shock.

Dr Hackenberg was one of the first three executives suspended over the #Dieselgate crisis, along with Volkswagen Group Development boss Heinz-Jakob Neusser and Porsche’s development boss, Wolfgang Hatz. Hackenberg has denied any knowledge of the crisis that saw Volkswagen Group shares and sales plummet and cheated on NOx emissions on 11 million four-cylinder diesel cars worldwide.

Never thought of as an engine developer, the 65-year-old engineer was the man behind the Audi A2 and developed the modular chassis architecture concepts like the MQB, the MLB and MLB Evo architectures that underpin every Volkswagen larger than the Polo, Audi’s A3, A4, A6, A7, Q3, Q5, Q7 and Porsche’s Macan and Cayenne, along with various Seats and Skodas.

He joined Audi in 1985 and rose to become head of Volkswagen product development until he was parachuted back into Audi in 2013

His position will be taken on January 1 by Audi’s head of engine development, Stephan Knirsch, 49, who said in June that he’d be leaving the company to pursue further opportunities.

During the Dieselgate engine development, Knirsch was about as far away from the problem as possible, first at Porsche then at supplier Pierburg.

It’s also an interesting move because after having Volkswagen’s powertrain people expose the cash-flow critical brand to Dieselgate, it was Audi’s own engine development that brought the Volkswagen Group new emission problems.

Audi developed and built the 3.0-litre V6 turbo-diesel engine that is used across its own products, along with Volkswagen’s Touareg and Porsche’s Cayenne.

In stark contrast to the way the Volkswagen brand handled Dieselgate, Audi CEO Rupert Stadler contradicted Volkswagen’s original statement by admitted almost immediately that his investigators had found illegal emission-control software in about 85,000 V6 TDI motors.

“The investigation in making progress. That is a necessary and good sign,” Audi deputy chairman Berthold Huber said.

The investigation also brings more heat on to its nine-year CEO Stadler, whose company contributes about 40 per cent of the profit of the entire Volkswagen Group.

Stadler will be under the microscope again on December 9, when he meets the Volkswagen Group’s Supervisory Board to go through the investigation’s findings and his role in any wrongdoing.

Volkswagen plans to release the investigation’s findings (so far) next week, with Müller’s offer of internal immunity expiring last week.

In local #Dieselgate related news, Australia's peak motoring body has announced it will fund “research analysing the real-world emissions of Australian cars to help inform the establishment of a more appropriate national testing regime”.

The Australian Automobile Association (AAA) announced this morning  that it will undertake an 18-month research project following the Dieselgate revelations.

The AAA says it will use the results of the program to inform the Australian Government's Ministerial Forum on Vehicle Emissions consultations.

AAA Chief Executive Michael Bradley said: "Action must be taken to test the emissions claims made by vehicle manufacturers and as the leading consumer advocate for almost eight million Australian motorists, the AAA is willing to step up to the plate.

"There is a debate emerging around the adequacy of Australia's current vehicle emission standards, but this debate risks being rendered meaningless unless a more relevant testing regime is put in place.

"The Volkswagen scandal clearly shows that regulators across the globe now need to be assessing the emissions produced by vehicles in the real-world, not just those produced in a laboratory,” he said.

Local on-road testing will commence in early 2016.