Report: BMW’s Duesmann to Be Audi’s Next CEO

Markus Duesmann, currently head of purchasing at BMW AG, will become CEO of Volkswagen Group’s Audi unit on Jan. 1, sources tell Automobilwoche.

VW confirms only that Duesmann, 49, will join its supervisory board “as soon as he is able to do so.”

Duesmann would become the second high-level BMW executive to join VW, following Herbert Diess, who joined the company as head of the VW brand in 2015. Diess was named CEO of VW Group in April, succeeding Matthias Mueller.

Audi’s current CEO, Rupert Stadler, was arrested in mid-June on suspicion of tampering with an investigation into VW’s diesel emission cheating scandal.

But Automobilwoche notes that the exact timing of Duesmann’s arrival at Audi is unclear. The newspaper says his employment contract at BMW doesn’t expire for more than a year and contains a clause that prohibits him from immediately moving to a competing carmaker.