Report: Audi Fires Product Development Chief

Volkswagen AG's Audi unit has dismissed technical development head Wolfgang Duerheimer and will replace him with Ulrich Hackenberg, a former Audi engineer who has led development for the VW brand since 2007, Der Spiegel reports.

Duerheimer, former CEO of VW's Bentley unit and an ex-Porsche R&D chief, joined Audi last September in a management shakeup that ousted three top executives, including development chief Michael Dick.

At Audi, Spiegel says, VW executives criticized Duerheimer for halting work on the electric versions of the R8 sports car and A1 small hatchback as a cost-cutting measure. VW managers complained that the luxury brand isn't living up to its "advancement through technology" slogan.

VW CEO Martin Winterkorn also disagreed with Duerheimer several times about new Audi designs, thus heightening personal friction between the two men, according to the magazine.

Hackenberg is considered a Winterkorn ally. The vehicle development executive worked at Audi in 2002-2007 under Winterkorn, who was then the brand's CEO. Hackenberg also is credited as one of the architects of VW Group's modular platform strategy. That program enables the company to save time and money by designing and building more models on each vehicle architecture.