Audi Says Technical Boss Was Replaced Because "He Couldn't Cope With The Complexity Of The Brand"

Durheimer was not supportive of big Audi initiatives such as electric vehicles and often times had a different opinion than Audi's board and senior management, including CEO Rupert Stadler. Durheimer was Audi head of R&D for less than a year. Disagreeing with your boss and the company's board over such important company issues such as gas, diesel, hybrid or electric vehicles after less than a year on the job is a quick way to get fired.

"Audi has not commented on Dürheimer's reported departure, but well-placed sources are speculating that his reluctance to pursue a dedicated strategy for all-electric cars may have played a part in the decision. During his short time at Audi the Audi A2 Etron and Audi A8 Etron projects have been canned, and Dürheimer has frequently spoken of his belief that plug-in hybrid technology offers a better medium-term solution to low-emission motoring than all-electric vehicles. It has also been recently reported that the forthcoming launch of the next-generation Audi A4 has been delayed recently, although only by a matter of weeks."

It make sense that he couldn't cope with the complexity of the overall business. Durheimer came from Porsche, a small car manufacturer. In Germany, only 21,000 Porsche cars were sold in 2012.
The Volwagen Group is much larger and more complex conglomerate of several brands. In Germany, Volkswagen 673,000 cars. Audi sold 267,000 cars in 2012. Skoda 147,000 cars. Seat 68,000 cars. Lamborghini 100 cars. Bentley 400 cars.
Of course the worldwide sales of each brand is much larger than the sales Germany... but you get the picture. At VW, Durheimer had to deal with the complexities of a multi-brand business that is 70 times larger than Porsche. Not everyone can make the transition to such a complex job. It's better that VW replace Durheimer quickly before costly mistakes happened that sets back the VW group.