Audi technical boss Dr Ulrich Hackenberg is to step down from his role in the wake of the VW emissions scandal, it has been announced.

Hackenberg, 65, has been a senior figure in the VW Group's technical department for since he joined Audi in 1985. He was a major player in several key projects at the Ingolstadt brand and parent firm VW, including running Audi's concept department during the period when it released the A2 and TT, and helping the VW team that created the XL1 economy prototype.

However, Hackenberg has been out of the public eye since the VW emissions scandal broke in September, prompting speculation that was one of several key engineering figures who had been suspended by the VW Group pending an internal investigation. He was also seen as a close ally of former VW Group CEO Martin Winterkorn. Now Audi has confirmed that he will leave his post "by mutual agreement" and be replaced by the current Head of Powertrain Stefan Knirsch - although the departure appears to be with the blessing of the new VW management, and the prepared statement makes no direct reference to the VW Group crisis.

Winterkorn's successor, Matthias Muller, said, "Above all, the modular toolkit system is inseparably connected with the name of Ulrich Hackenberg. He had that idea already in the early nineties at Audi. Today, the entire Group profits from it.”

Audi’s Board of Management Chairman Rupert Stadler said, “In the 30 years that he was active in the Volkswagen Group, Ulrich Hackenberg was involved in crucial strategies and model decisions. The highly flexible modular system resulted in flexible modular production. Both systems helped us to produce very efficiently and with high quality. Numerous car models from Audi, Volkswagen and Bentley were significantly affected by his commitment and expertise. On behalf of the entire Board of Management, I thank him for his many years of commitment and his professional passion.

JIM HOLDER (AUTOCAR UK)