The fallout from the dieselgate scandal continues as Porsche’s director of powertrain development has reportedly been arrested.
According to Automobilwoche and Reuters, Jörg Kerner was arrested by German police on Thursday and he remains in custody as he is considered a flight risk. Porsche has declined to comment on the reports but Bild am Sonntag said Porsche CEO Oliver Blume sent a memo to employees informing them that a manager has been arrested.
The memo reportedly went on to say three current and former employees as well as the company itself are suspected of knowing diesel engines had defeat devices even though they were made by Audi. Blume then went on to say “We reject these allegations and will do our utmost to clear up the matter.”
Kerner became Porsche’s director of powertrain development in October of 2011. Before this, he worked at Audi and a press release from the time noted “Kerner built up the engine and transmission electronics design, software and functional development division, managing it until 2009.” This is interesting as the company’s defeat devices relied on software to recognize when they were undergoing emission tests and then cheat accordingly.
Kerner’s arrest comes shortly after German prosecutors raided several Audi and Porsche facilities. Reports indicated thirty public prosecutors searched ten different Porsche properties as their investigation is focused on three people who were described as a former employee, a senior manager and a member of the company’s management board. It now appears that Kerner was the senior manager but the identity of the two other suspects remains unclear.
The Audi-developed 3.0-liter TDI V6 engine was installed in approximately 80,000 vehicles from Audi, Porsche and Volkswagen. In particular, it was popular on crossovers such as the Audi Q7, Porsche Cayenne and Volkswagen Touareg.
