Volkswagen’s Hatz arrested

Public prosecutors have taken former Volkswagen Group powertrain development director Wolfgang Hatz into custody in Germany over the Dieselgate fraud scandal.

Hatz, who had been said to have been cleared of involvement in Dieselgate by Volkswagen’s hired investigative firm, Jones Day, was detained today following a recent search of offices and private houses by German police.

The story of Hatz’s arrest was broken today by the Süddeutscher Zeitung newspaper and the broadcasters Norddeutscher Rundfunk and Westdeutscher Rundfunk, both of which are controlled by the German Government.

Hatz, 58, becomes the second Volkswagen employee to be arrested in Germany, following the arrest of 60-year-old Italian Giovanni Pamio in July.

Oddly, US Department of Justice hasn’t named Hatz as a figure of interest, though it has successfully prosecuted one Volkswagen employee and is slated to take another to trial early next year. They also have arrest warrants out for six other German-based former Volkswagen employees including Hatz’s successor as head of powertrain development, Heinz-Jakob Neusser.

Hatz even flew to America last November, weeks after receiving a payout shown by Bild to be €13 million, for the Los Angeles motor show, visiting both the Volkswagen and Audi stands.

Known to be close to former Volkswagen Group Chairman, Dr Martin Winterkorn and Pamio, Hatz found engineering fame by helping develop the common-rail diesel technology for Fiat before moving to Audi.

He was in charge of Audi’s engine development from 2001 to 2007 before taking over the role for the entire Volkswagen Group. Audi was where the emissions-cheating Dieselgate software was developed and implemented under the guise of an “Acoustic Function” to reduce start-up noise levels.

It was first shown in a Volkswagen Group four-cylinder turbodiesel motor in 2008 and was also later included in the Audi-developed 3.0-litre turbo-diesel V6.

Without the cheat, the Volkswagen diesels would not have passed US emissions regulations. With the cheat, 11 million cars around the world have had to be recalled, re-engineered and in some cases scrapped altogether and it has cost the Volkswagen Group more than €24 billion.

Hatz left the Volkswagen Group role in 2011 to head research and development at Porsche, a period when he also was instrumental in formulating the current Formula One 1.6-litre hybrid engine regulations.

Like most of the Volkswagen Group executives suspended in the wake of Dieselgate, Hatz professed his innocence and took a golden parachute. Volkswagen Group CEO Matthias Mueller tried to bring him back to the Porsche board as recently as last year, though he was rebuffed by union pressure.

Insiders insist all of the suspended Volkswagen Group executives would have received payouts in the region of €10 million, though post-Dieselgate hire, compliance director Christine Hohmann-Dennhardt, received a €15 million payout this year after just one year in the job.

Bild reporters broke down Hatz’s payout as €3 million to pay out his Porsche board member’s contract (which expired in February, 2019), another €4 million in bonus payments plus €6 million in severance pay.

He was also instrumental in returning Porsche to the top flight of the World Endurance Championship and its three most recent Le Mans 24 hour LMP1 victories, plus encouraging the hybrid technology into the 918 Spyder hypercar.

He felt most at home at Porsche, where he pushed hard for the cars like the Panamera and Cayenne hybrids and the 911 R, which was approved at a meeting in his Stuttgart home.

His personal 911 R, painted in his personal one-off grey, with grey stripes, paintwork to match his 911 GT3 RS and his 1969 911 Coupe, sits in his house’s six-car garage in Stuttgart, alongside a yellow Lamborghini Gallardo, a 356 Speedster and a Mazda MX-5, though he also owns a red 930 Turbo and several other Porsches.

As a former Porsche board member, he is entitled to drive two new Porsche company cars for life, which are currently a 911 Turbo S and a Cayenne Turbo.

He was awarded the Issigonis Trophy by the British Autocar magazine for outstanding achievements in engineering and for the success of Porsche’s motorsport programs around the world.