VW's suspended top engineer Hackenberg quits after 30 years, Audi says

BERLIN (Reuters) -- Volkswagen's suspended top engineer, Ulrich Hackenberg, has left the German group after 30 years, luxury-car division Audi said on Thursday, as VW pushes ahead with the search for culprits in its diesel emissions scandal.

More than two months after he was suspended by VW's supervisory board, Hackenberg, head of r&d at Audi, has left the company and will be replaced by Stefan Knirsch, head of engine development, Audi said.

Meanwhile, Audi named Volkswagen CEO Matthias Mueller as the new chairman of its supervisory board.

Mueller will replace Martin Winterkorn, who resigned from the helm of the Audi board in November in the wake of investigations of VW's emissions scandal, Audi said after a meeting of its supervisory board, confirming an earlier Reuters report.