Back in January, it was reported and later on confirmed by an Audi spokesman in Germany, that the brand with the four rings removed Quattro boss Franciscus van Meel from his position, replacing him with R&D executive Heinz Hollerweger. At the time, it was believed that Audi would reassign Meel to head the company’s new research and development center in Beijing, China, but we now hear otherwise.
A report from U.S. magazine Car&Driver says that it learned from a German correspondent that van Meel will be heading to rivaling carmaker BMW, with the rumor mill suggesting that he could work for the Bavarian firm’s M GmbH performance arm.
Neither Audi nor BMW would comment on the story.
Interestingly, on Audi’s official press page, van Meel is still listed as the head of the Quattro division, though, on his Facebook page, the 46-year-old executive has “Quatro GmbH” on his past work places.
Audi never explained the reason for removing Meel, but it has been whispered that the German brand’s research and development boss Ulrich Hackenberg was unhappy with the work and the delays on the R8’s replacement.
By John Halas
PHOTO GALLERY
