Tech Chief Stefan Knirsch Departing Audi Board
September 26 2016 - 12:00PM
Dow Jones News
FRANKFURT—Volkswagen AG's diesel emissions scandal has claimed
another corporate victim as the board member in charge of
development at Audi AG, the German car maker's premium brand,
resigned from the company after it was discovered he had concealed
knowledge about duping emissions tests.
The resignation of Stefan Knirsch, who joined the Audi
management board in January, demonstrates how widespread knowledge
was of the practice of installing illegal software on diesel
engines to cheat on emissions tests.
It also raises questions about whether Audi CEO Rupert Stadler
was aware of the diesel engine manipulation. He was questioned last
week by Jones Day, the U.S. law firm that Volkswagen commissioned
to investigate the scandal, but no evidence has been found that
would incriminate Mr. Stadler, according to two people familiar
with the investigation.
Mr. Knirsch was made a member of Audi's executive board in
charge of development in December, replacing his former boss,
Ulrich Hackenberg, who left the company after he was suspended in
connection with the diesel scandal. Mr. Hackenberg hasn't been
charged with wrongdoing. He wasn't reachable for comment.
When Mr. Knirsch, who was head of Audi's engine development
since 2013, was promoted, he was asked to make a full statement and
include any information he possessed about the diesel scandal. He
assured Audi management and the works council, which must approve
executive appointments, that he had no knowledge about the diesel
scandal.
"Unfortunately, the results of the investigation show a
different picture," Berthold Huber, vice chairman of Audi's
supervisory board and former head of the IG Metall trade union,
said in a statement. "That's why we had to part ways."
Mr. Knirsch wasn't available for comment, according to an Audi
spokesman.
U.S. environmental authorities disclosed on Sept. 18, 2015 that
Volkswagen had violated the Clean Air Act by installing software on
nearly 500,000 diesel-powered vehicles in the U.S. that allowed the
vehicles to cheat on emissions tests.
In the days and weeks that followed, Volkswagen's chief
executive at the time, Martin Winterkorn, resigned under pressure,
and Volkswagen admitted to installing the software on nearly 11
million vehicles world-wide. The company is now involved in a
global recall to fix the cars to make them compliant with emissions
rules.
In the U.S., Volkswagen agreed in June to a historic $15 billion
settlement with U.S. car owners and states in one of the largest
civil claims ever settled against a corporation. Volkswagen also
agreed to provide $1.2 billion in compensation to its franchise
dealers in the U.S.
The company is negotiating with the Justice Department to
achieve a settlement of criminal charges. One engineer, James
Robert Liang, pleaded guilty in U.S. federal court earlier this
month on charges of conspiracy to defraud the U.S. government and
consumers and faces up to five years in jail and up to $250,000 in
fines. Mr. Liang is cooperating with U.S. investigators in exchange
for leniency.
According to U.S. court filings that cite Volkswagen documents
provided to investigators, Volkswagen's first defeat device was
built in 1999 by engineers at Audi. In 2006, when Volkswagen
engineers were building a new diesel engine for the U.S. market,
they couldn't make it compliant with U.S. emissions and decided to
further develop Audi's defeat device for use in the new "clean
diesel" engine.
Later, the defeat device, known internally as the "acoustic
function" and other code names, was installed on 3-liter diesel
engines that were built by Audi and used on large sedans and
sport-utility vehicles produced by Audi, Volkswagen and
Porsche.
Mr. Knirsch became aware of Audi's defeat device sometime after
2013, when he was put in charge of engine development at Audi,
according to a person familiar with the situation.
In 2015, Mr. Knirsch was in talks with rival Daimler AG over
joining Daimler's board to replace its outgoing research and
development chief, Thomas Weber. But Daimler broke off the
negotiations in the wake of the diesel scandal, according to the
person familiar with the situation.
Write to William Boston at william.boston@wsj.com and Sarah
Sloat at sarah.sloat@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
September 26, 2016 12:45 ET (16:45 GMT)
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