German carmaker Audi has appointed a new chairman and a new development chief as Volkswagen's flagship luxury division struggles to recover from an emissions scandal.
Audi admitted two weeks ago that its 3.0 litre V6 diesel engine was fitted with emissions-control software.
This have been deemed illegal in the US where the scandal has already engulfed its corporate parent VW and the mass-market VW brand.
Audi's supervisory board has appointed VW's new chief executive Matthias Mueller as chairman, replacing long-time VW CEO Martin Winterkorn who vacated the post in November in the wake of the scandal that also forced him out as VW group CEO.
The board also picked Stefan Knirsch, head of engine development to succeed Ulrich Hackenberg, top engineer at Audi and the VW group.
Hackenberg was suspended two months ago together with two other executives closely associated with the development of the VW engine at the centre of the scandal, codenamed EA 189.
"The investigation is making progress," Audi deputy chairman Berthold Huber said. "That is a necessary and good sign."
The V6 diesel engine was designed and assembled by Audi at its Neckarsulm factory in Germany, and used in about 85,000 premium models sold by the VW, Audi and Porsche brands from 2009 up to 2016.
The admission from Audi, which contributes about 40% to VW group profit, has raised the pressure on CEO Rupert Stadler, a 25-year VW group veteran who has led the Ingolstadt-based automaker for nine years.
After being questioned by the Audi board yesterday, Stadler will also need to convince VW's 20-member controlling panel at a meeting on December 9 to discuss the state of investigations.
Volkswagen plans to publish intermediate results of its probe into the scandal next week.
Meanwhile, sales of new Volkswagen cars collapsed in Britain by nearly a fifth last month as the German carmaker was plagued by fallout from the pollution-cheating scandal, industry data showed today.
There were 12,958 new registrations of Volkswagen branded vehicles in November, down almost 20% from the same month in 2014, the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders said.
