June 9, 2020, 7:05 p.m.
Ingolstadt / Neckarsulm Four years after the diesel scandal was uncovered, the indictment against long-time Audi boss Stadler was approved. The trial begins on September 30. About a man who supposedly knew nothing.
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Ex-Audi boss Rupert Stadler always assured his innocence in the diesel aff “class =” thumb-image custom-scaler-default-vorschau “style =” pointer-events: none “target =” _ blank “> Ex-Audi boss Rupert Stadler always claimed his innocence in the diesel affair. From September 30, he has to answer before the regional court in Munich. Photo: dpa
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On June 18, 2018, the hitherto unthinkable happened: Rupert Stadler was taken into custody in his house in Ingolstadt. The 57-year-old loses his chief position at Audi, his position as a member of the VW Group board, his reputation, his reputation. Now he is going to be tried.
The district court in Munich approved the charges of fraud in the Dieselaffre. The trial against Stadler and three co-defendants – including the former Porsche board member Wolfgang Hatz and the Neckarsulm engine developer Giovanni P. – should begin on September 30, as the court announced on Monday.
Prosecutors are convinced that Stadler knew
The prosecutor accuses them of “fraud, indirect false certification and criminal advertising”. Stadler had known about the exhaust gas manipulations in Audi diesel engines by the end of September 2015 at the latest, but still could not prevent the sale of the cars, he is accused of. The court has scheduled 176 trial days for the trial by the end of December 2022.
The indictment is the preliminary low point in Rupert Stadler’s career, which has seen a meteoric rise. It was years ago that Rupert Stadler was made CEO of the VW premium subsidiary almost out of nothing when Martin Winterkorn moved from Ingolstadt to Wolfsburg. Until then, hardly anyone knew the CFO. Until then, he had only been in the public eye twice a year: at the general meeting and the annual press conference. Suddenly “the Stadler” was in the spotlight: the former office manager of VW patriarch Ferdinand Pich, who at the time still had a say in all important personnel decisions, prevailed against the engineers who had previously been regarded as set. Back then, a big surprise for many.
Shortly after the millionfold manipulation of diesel vehicles became public at Volkswagen in September 2015, Stadler made it clear: “Everything is fine at Audi.” The truth, however, turned out to be different. Again and again new scams appeared – the accused doesn’t want to have known anything about all of this. If you listen to old tapes from interviews with Stadler, you notice that he only ever denies test bench detection. However, Audi became a victim of the fact that the vehicles did not inject enough urea.
Audi diesel engines with automatic switch-off were developed in Neckarsulm
In December 2017, Stadler presented itself to the editorial staff of the Heilbronn voice as a manager who is targeting the start – with a new corporate culture: “We have changed the company significantly in terms of organization,” he said at the time. He repeated one thing, both internally and externally, like a prayer: “I have nothing to reproach myself with.”
The prosecutor’s office in Munich sees it differently. The three managers and engineers charged with Stadler are said to have equipped large Audi diesel engines that were developed at the Neckarsulm location with a shutdown function. This means that the engines on the test bench emit less exhaust gas than in everyday operation. These engines were installed in 250,712 Audis, 71,577 vehicles from VW and 112,131 vehicles from Porsche.
Alexander Schnell
Head of Department Life and Leisure
Alexander Schnell has headed the Life and Leisure department since June 1, 2006 and is therefore responsible for all special publications of the media company. This includes the weekend magazine Freizeit and the Autostimme. A specialty of the native of Heilbronn is all topics related to cars and mobility. Schnell is also a member of the editorial team.
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