If a recent report is to be believed, Audi quattro GmbH Managing Director Franciscus van Meel has been reassigned over an internal dispute.
However the details are limited as of now but Audi says that the move is “part of a planned rotation” and hence van Meel has been reassigned to take on a prominent role at Audi China later this year. However, some insiders are stating that van Meel was been ousted over a dispute with Technical Development boss Dr. Ulrich Hackenberg.
According to the same sources, Hackenberg is upset that the next-generation R8 has been delayed until early next year due to several last minute engineering changes. There are also rumors doing round that that van Meel’s removal is also due to the failure to launch a production version of the R8 e-tron.
We do not the reason clearly but van Meel will reportedly be replaced by Heinz Peter Hollerweger and van Meel will take control of Audi China in the later part of the year.
