OREANDA-NEWS. October 06, 2015. The head of the Russian office of Audi, Achim Saurer, was dismissed and transferred to another position in the German office.

According to "RBK", Achim Saurer headed the Russian subsidiary of Audi in November of 2014, by succeeding Elena Smirnova, who went to work at BMW. According to sources, Achim Saurer could be dismissed because of the failure of the company's plans to work in the Russian market. During eight months of 2015, Audi sales in Russia fell by 29% to 16.4 thousand cars (BMW sales in the same period fell by 21%, Mercedes-Benz – by 10%). Mr. Saurer could also be fired as a result of a change in leadership of the parent company Volkswagen in Germany because of the scandal over the falsification of data on the real level of emissions of vehicles with diesel engines. However, a spokesman of Volkswagen claims that the current situation in the concern and the transition of Mr. Saurer to another position are not connected.