Audi pledges to make diesel cheating investigation public

According to foreign media reports, at Audi's shareholders' meeting held on May 18, Audi promised to be transparent in its handling of the diesel cheating scandal, and shareholders also asked Audi to disclose more information.

Investors have been demanding clarification from Audi and Volkswagen since the diesel emissions cheating scandal broke in 2015, with some saying they were shocked that Audi had not yet released the results of its internal investigation.

In November 2015, Audi admitted that its 3.0-liter V6 diesel engine had a software that controlled emissions. According to relevant US laws, this software is illegal. So far, Volkswagen has agreed to pay $25 billion in the United States to resolve complaints from car owners, environmental protection departments, state governments and dealers, and has proactively bought back 500,000 vehicles in the United States that exceeded emission standards.

Audi CEO Rupert Stadler said at the meeting that the investigation will continue and promised that law and ethics will be Audi's "ultimate benchmark." However, shareholders still complained about the delay of the investigation by the top management, accusing them of failing to make public the results of the investigation by the US law firm Jones Day, and questioned the statement that grassroots managers rather than senior executives should be held responsible. Christian Strenger, a member of the supervisory board of Deutsche Asset Management, emphasized that "it is time to fulfill the promise of highly transparent information on the cheating investigation. So far, we have only heard denials and postponements."

Despite criticism of his handling of the scandal, Stadler, 54, was re-elected for another five years after a secret ballot by 20 supervisory board members. But some shareholders are not happy with Audi's management. "Audi did not transparently disclose information about diesel cheating to Volkswagen and its shareholders." Stadler also won the support of union leaders, but on the basis of guaranteeing employment rates at German factories, according to a person familiar with the matter.

In addition, Stadler also pointed out that Audi's sales in China will continue to decline. In the first four months of this year, Audi's cumulative sales in China fell 18% compared with the same period of the whole year. In 2016, Audi's global sales increased by 4% year-on-year to 1.87 million vehicles.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.