Audi boss Rupert Stadler is to be questioned by officials from US law firm Jones Day as part of on-going internal investigations into the Volkswagen Group’s diesel emission test manipulation.
The questioning of Stadler, who has been the chairman of the board and chief executive officer of Audi since January 2010, is said to come after earlier witnesses implicated the 53-year-old German in the so-called dieselgate scandal.
According to German media reports, the Volkswagen Group supervisory board ordered Stadler be brought before Jones Day officials leading the internal investigation following claims he first gained knowledge of the software used to manipulate emission tests for the company’s 3.0-litre V6 diesel engine shortly after being made Audi chairman in 2010.
Until now, Stadler has steadfastly denied he knew of the measures used by Audi engineers to manipulate the emissions of the widely used V6 diesel, which is employed in various Audi, Porsche and Volkswagen models.
The questioning is planned to extend for “a number of hours” according to Volkswagen Group sources. An Audi spokesman contacted by Autocar UK refused to comment on developments surrounding Stadler.
Audi R&D boss Knirsch to be suspended
News of the questioning of Stadler by Jones Day follows the suspension from duties of Audi’s research and development boss, Stefan Knirsch, following an Audi supervisory board meeting in Ingolstadt on Friday, September 16, 2016.
An investigation by US law firm Jones Day has allegedly revealed that the Audi board member is facing the end of his career at Audi, accusing him of being aware of manipulations to the emissions of 3.0-litre diesel engines long before it was revealed in September last year, according to Ingolstadt’s local newspaper Donaukurier.
Audi has previously confirmed that its 3.0-litre V6 diesel unit was in fact fitted with emission-controlling software, which is illegal in the US where the scandal was initially uncovered. Volkswagen has previously said the cheat software was the work of some rogue engineers, but that claim has now come into question.
The publication stated that a meeting of Audi’s supervisory board (which approves the appointment or sacking of official board members) took place last week, with the board allegedly being told that Knirsch was aware of the software.
Knirsch has reportedly already been asked to clear his desk after only nine months in the job, having succeeded previously suspended technical boss Ulrich Hackenberg. Hackenberg quit following his suspension, alongside two other executives at the centre of the scandal
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