Audi's tech chief Womfgang Durheimer falls victim to palace intrigue.

To those who casually glance over the press release Volkswagen AG sent out this morning it might seem like an everyday occurrence, the routine corporate rotation of jobs. But something much more significant has apparently roiled through the management ranks of the Volkswagen AG empire, with Wolfgang Durheimer at its epicenter.

What the VWAG release did do was confirm a report that first surfaced in the German newsmagazine, Der Spiegel suggesting that the highly respected Durheimer had been ousted from the job he had been given only last September as the head of R&D for Audi.  Considering the role Volkswagen’s luxury brand plays in the German maker’s empire, it was a towering position with influence over much of the rest of the corporation.

According to VW, Dr. Ulrich Hackenberg, the 63-year-old board member who had responsible for technical development for VW will now assume Durheimer’s post while also maintaining some of his duties at the parent Volkswagen Group.  Dr. Heinz-Jakob Neusser, 53, will now slip into Hackenberg’s old office.

And Durheimer?

He’s not on the German dole.  Not yet. Volkswagen suggests he will “transfer to another function within the Group,” and that “he will remain General Representative of the Volkswagen Group responsible for motorsport.”

The latter news is significant considering Audi is about to throw down the gauntlet yet again in its bid to dominate at the grueling 24 Hours of Le Mans.  But will Durheimer hold onto that job – indeed, remain with VWAG in any position after the race is over?  The scuttlebutt in Wolfsburg, VW’s ancestral home, is that Durheimer will soon be looking for new employment.

That comes as more than a bit of a surprise considering his trajectory within the ranks until now.  Durheimer made his name as development chief over at Porsche, the sports car manufacturer that recently merged into the Volkswagen Group as brand number 12.  The executive moved to Bentley in February 2011, replacing the retiring Franz-Josef Paefgen as CEO.

There, Durheimer made headlines by rolling out the Bentley EXP 9F, a bold if ungainly plug-in hybrid sport-utility vehicle – a production version of which is expected to reach market in the near future.

But anyone who thought Durheimer was going to plug into Audi’s nascent electrification effort was in for a shock. And that, according to Der Spiegel, might have unplugged his career. Within months, Durheimer scuttled the battery-powered R8 e-tron and an A1 e-tron plug-in that was to use an unusual rotary engine package to keep the car going once its batteries ran down.

Such moves – and Durheimer’s strategy on design – seemed to have rubbed key people the wrong way, notably including both Audi CEO Rupert Stadler and VW Group’s all-powerful CEO Martin Winterkorn, according to Der Spiegel. The magazine also suggested that as a former Porsche exec, Durheimer’s management style was a culture clash.

There could be other factors at work, but “If it was in Der Spiegel, you can assume we planted it there,” a senior VW source suggested to TheDetroitBureau.com, asking not to be identified by name for fear of his own job.

The timing of the shake-up could signal trouble for Audi. The news not only comes as the maker gets into its annual endurance racing program with Le Mans but as it gears up a number of critical product development programs.

With Hackenburg at 63 and already said to be preparing for retirement, the personnel changes appear to be temporary, at best, and will likely be followed by others – but for now, they could disrupt a brand that had been building much-needed momentum to take on key rivals BMW and Mercedes-Benz.

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