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VW Postpones Decision on Jailed CEO

Today Volkswagen AGs supervisory board put off a decision about the fate of Audi CEO Rupert Stadler, who has been in jail since June on charges of interfering with a probe into diesel emission cheating.

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Today Volkswagen AGs supervisory board put off a decision about the fate of Audi CEO Rupert Stadler, who has been in jail since June on charges of interfering with a probe into diesel emission cheating.

VW and Stadler’s legal representatives failed to reach agreement on the terms of his exit from the company, sources tell Automotive News Europe. Stadler was suspended after he was arrested, and Bram Schot, who headed Audi sales and marketing, has been filling in as interim CEO.

Audi has lined up former BMW powertrain executive Markus Duesmann to join the company, presumably as Stadler’s full-time replacement. Handelsblatt reports that Audi’s board postponed the move pending an expected decision by the German government on a costly plan to retrofit VW Group cheater diesels with new emission control hardware.

Other reports say VW, which has objected to the expense involved until now, has agreed to the recall. Handelsblatt says the carmaker now wants to avoid the optics of spending millions of euros to buy out Duesmann’s contract.

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