NOVEMBER 7, 2001

Audi boss to be dumped

REPORTS in The Financial Times indicate that Volkswagen will shortly announce the departure of Franz-Josef Paefgen, the chief executive of Audi. Paefgen was one of the contenders for the job as chief executive of the entire Volkswagen company but lost out to Bernd Pischetsreider.

The new boss of Audi is expected to be Martin Winterkorn, head of product development at VW. Winterkorn is one of the few top men at Volkswagen to appear at Grand Prix races in recent years (other than Pischetsrieder himself).

A small detail, but perhaps a significant one...