Editor’s letter: Will convicted ex-Audi boss tell all about Dieselgate?
Stadler was Audi boss for 11 years from 2007
Rupert Stadler took a plea deal to escape with a suspended sentence and a €1.1m fine
Some eight years after the Dieselgate scandal started to rock the automotive world and beyond, the first Volkswagen Group executive has been convicted following an admission of guilt – of sorts.
Rupert Stadler was Audi boss for 11 years from 2007, the last three of which were served with a brass neck, the scandal having hit and the reconciliation process had begun.
When facing a prison sentence last month, he took a plea deal to escape with a suspended sentence and a fine (albeit a seven-figure one of €1.1 million), admitting that he failed to stop the sale of cars fitted with the cheat device and not doing more to act rather than any direct involvement.
Two co-defendants, ex-powertrain engineer Giovanni Pamio and ex-Porsche boss Wolfgang Hatz, took similar deals, although German prosecutors seem determined to keep the case against Hatz going and are reviewing the sentence he was given.
The fall of Stadler is now complete. He oversaw the growth and expansion of Audi to what it is today – he took sales from just under one million units per year to just under two million by the time he left – and he always seemed a more studious and less showy executive than many of his bravado-rich contemporaries from the VW Group at the time. Yet still he knew – of course he knew.
The first time I interviewed him was at the Detroit motor show about a decade ago. Motor shows aren’t always the best place to get the warmer side of execs, given they’re sat in the same room all day with journalists coming in one by one; back to back. Yet Stadler gave a friendly and insightful interview and what I thought would be a few cagey news lines turned into a big profile feature piece.
The last time I spoke to him turned out to be just a few days before his arrest, at the unveiling of the Audi Q8 in Shenzhen. This was a doorstepping job, and the approachable and open Stadler of before looked a bit like a rabbit in the headlights.
This was his last public appearance as Audi boss; with his arrest forthcoming it’s obvious why he was distracted, and not overly keen to furnish my questions over whether or not there’d be a next generation R8. Other things on the mind and all that.
Stadler surely won’t be the last VW executive to end up with a criminal conviction at the end of this. Intriguingly, Stadler’s plea deal included a condition that he can be called upon to give evidence against other future defendants in the dieselgate case. His simple reply of “yes” as to confirming if he could have done more to act is hardly warts and all.
Given the bosses of two VW Group brands of the time have now finally admitted a part in the scandal, it’s a fairly safe assumption that this indeed goes far and wide across the group and the leadership of several brands. Shock of the year.
But if we’re ever to get to the bottom of this scandal and the inner workings of it, people are going to need to talk. Perhaps the Stadler of Detroit – and not Shenzhen – could be the witness to do so when others have their day in court.