Jailed Audi CEO Rupert Stadler Cut Loose From Company

Steph Willems
by Steph Willems

Rupert Stadler, now former CEO of Audi, saw his contract with Volkswagen Group terminated on Tuesday, thus allowing the automaker to distance itself from a PR-squashing reminder of its disastrous diesel emissions fiasco.

Serving as Audi AG’s CEO since 2010, Stadler’s June arrest on suspicion of interference in an ongoing German fraud investigation pushed an interim CEO into the top chair. It was the highest profile arrest thus far in the diesel emissions scandal. As investigators continue probing his potential involvement in the diesel fraud, the jailed Stadler also gives up his seat on VW’s management board, effective immediately.

VW Group announced Stadler’s departure in a Tuesday release:

The supervisory boards of Volkswagen AG and AUDI AG have today consented to the conclusion of an agreement with Rupert Stadler on the termination of his offices as a member of the board of management of Volkswagen AG and chairman of the board of management of AUDI AG as well as of his service agreements. Mr. Stadler is leaving the companies with immediate effect and will no longer work for the Volkswagen Group. Mr. Stadler is doing so because, due to his ongoing pretrial detention, he is unable to fulfil his duties as a member of the board of management and wishes to concentrate on his defence.

Sales executive Bram Schot will continue serving as acting CEO until a replacement can be found.

With Stadler’s departure, another figure from the Dieselgate era vanishes from the company. VW CEO Martin Winterkorn stepped down days after the Environmental Protection Agency blew the lid off the scandal in September 2015. The U.S. later indicted him on felony charges of conspiracy and wire fraud, though he remains a free man in Germany. An investigation continues on that front.

Winterkorn’s successor, Matthias Müller, found himself ousted by the VW board in April of this year and soon became the target of an expanded German investigation.

Several reports have speculated on the hefty windfall that might greet Stadler in his sudden retirement, but VW claims the severance pay (Stadler’s contract was to run out in 2023), carries an asterisk.

“The contractual execution depends on the course and outcome of the criminal proceedings,” VW stated.

[Image: Audi AG]

Steph Willems
Steph Willems

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  • Redapple Redapple on Oct 02, 2018

    I am still shocked it took so long to catch the cheating. All companies buy competing vehicles. Up until VW was caught the MASSIVE question in car dom was, 'how on earth can VW meet emissions laws while we cannot.' They got away with it for years and years.

    • Raph Raph on Oct 02, 2018

      Everybody is running a hustle so nobody wants to snitch.

  • SCE to AUX SCE to AUX on Oct 02, 2018

    I wonder if Audi now knows something they did not know previously; i.e. this guy's going to be convicted of a crime.

  • CanadaCraig You can just imagine how quickly the tires are going to wear out on a 5,800 lbs AWD 2024 Dodge Charger.
  • Luke42 I tried FSD for a month in December 2022 on my Model Y and wasn’t impressed.The building-blocks were amazing but sum of the all of those amazing parts was about as useful as Honda Sensing in terms of reducing the driver’s workload.I have a list of fixes I need to see in Autopilot before I blow another $200 renting FSD. But I will try it for free for a month.I would love it if FSD v12 lived up to the hype and my mind were changed. But I have no reason to believe I might be wrong at this point, based on the reviews I’ve read so far. [shrug]. I’m sure I’ll have more to say about it once I get to test it.
  • FormerFF We bought three new and one used car last year, so we won't be visiting any showrooms this year unless a meteor hits one of them. Sorry to hear that Mini has terminated the manual transmission, a Mini could be a fun car to drive with a stick.It appears that 2025 is going to see a significant decrease in the number of models that can be had with a stick. The used car we bought is a Mk 7 GTI with a six speed manual, and my younger daughter and I are enjoying it quite a lot. We'll be hanging on to it for many years.
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  • Jalop1991 what, no Turbo trim?
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