Audi boss accused in emissions cheating probe

– German prosecutors yesterday widened an emissions cheating probe into Volkswagen’s luxury carmaker, Audi, to include the brand’s chief executive, Rupert Stadler, among the suspects accused of fraud and false advertising.

Almost three years after Volkswagen admitted to falsifying US diesel emissions tests, the Munich public prosecutor’s office said it was now probing 20 suspects. Yesterday, it searched the apartment of Stadler and of one other board member.

The news came after Germany’s Bild am Sonntag reported that up to a million Daimler cars had been found to contain illegal emissions devices, showing how the fallout from Volkswagen’s scandal continues to dog the industry.

“Since May 30, 2018, the chairman of the board of Audi AG, Prof Rupert Stadler, as well as a further member of the management board, are now named suspects,” the Munich prosecutor’s office said.

The investigation could trigger a leadership crisis at Audi and its parent Volkswagen, where Stadler was in April elevated to the post of head of group sales. Volkswagen declined to comment. Audi said it was fully cooperating with prosecutors. Stadler was in a board meeting and unavailable for comment.

Munich prosecutors said the two suspects were being investigated for suspected fraud and false advertising and for their alleged role in helping to bring cars equipped with illegal software on to the European market.

Stadler has been under fire since Audi admitted to using cheating software in November 2015 – two months after VW – but has enjoyed backing from members of the Porsche and Piech families who control Volkswagen and Audi.

Before becoming Audi chief executive last year, Stadler was a confidant of, and former assistant to then-Volkswagen chairperson Ferdinand Piech, the scion of the group’s controlling Piech clan.

Audi, the biggest contributor to VW’s profit, admitted in November 2015 its 3.0 litre V6 diesel engines were fitted with a device deemed illegal in the US that allowed cars to evade emissions limits.

In March, Audi’s 20-strong supervisory board recommended that shareholders endorse Stadler as chief executive, even as prosecutors raided Audi to investigate who was involved in the use of any illicit software deployed in 80 000 VW, Audi and Porsche cars in the US. –