Former BMW executive Duesmann tasked with reviving Audi

Former BMW executive and incoming Audi CEO Markus Duesmann will be tasked with injecting new meaning into the company's advertising slogan Vorsprung Durch Technik (Advancement Through Technology) after Audi fired several senior engineers for their alleged part in parent Volkswagen Group's diesel emissions-rigging scandal.

Duesmann, 50, will take charge of Audi on April 1. He will also have board-level responsibility for r&d at VW Group.

Current Audi chief Bram Schot, 58, will leave the company by "amicable mutual agreement" on March 31, VW Group said in a statement on Friday.

Duesmann is an engine development expert and a former head of purchasing at BMW.

"Markus Duesmann will do everything to unlock the huge potential of the Audi brand," VW Group CEO Herbert Diess said at a press conference in Wolfsburg on Friday.

Audi was a major r&d hub within VW Group, setting standards in aerodynamic efficiency, lightweight aluminum construction, dual-clutch transmission technology and four-wheel-drive systems.

But the premium brand struggled after it was discovered that engine management software, used to manipulate exhaust emissions tests at VW, was designed by Audi engineers, leading to the firing of engineering chiefs and its longtime CEO, Rupert Stadler.

"We don't need little 'Vorsprung' stories, we need real 'Vorsprung' stories," Audi's current head of r&d, Hans-Joachim Rothenpieler, told Reuters.

The e-tron full-electric car as well as fuel cell technology are two pillars upon which Audi can resurrect its brand claim, Rothenpieler said.

Audi's works council chief, Peter Mosch, welcomed the appointment of an external manager.

"From Markus Duesmann and his team we expect the stable utilization of our factories and a more courageous approach," Mosche said.

VW Group's wish to recruit Duesmann from BMW was first reported last year by Automotive News Europe sister publication Automobilwoche.

BMW held up the move but recently dropped its opposition to Duesmann's early departure, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reported in September.

Audi appointed Schot, its former sales and marketing chief, as CEO in January when it was unclear whether BMW would release Duesmann from a non-compete clause.

Schot had held the CEO role on an interim basis after Munich prosecutors detained Stadler in June 2018 for his alleged role in helping to bring Audi diesel cars equipped with illegal software onto the European market.

Stadler and three other defendants have been charged with false certification and criminal advertising practices.

Duesmann is the third high-profile defection from rival German automaker BMW after VW recruited Diess in July 2015 and hired Hildegard Wortmann as Audi's sales boss this summer.

Duesmann, a mechanical engineer, came to BMW in 2007. He was named BMW's purchasing chief, a role previously held by Diess, in 2016.