Talent doesn't stay still.
In an unforeseen move, it appears that the Volkswagen Group is reshuffling senior management somewhat, with the recently-appointed boss of Audi Sport, Stephan Winkelmann, set to vacate his post and take up residence as the new head of Bugatti, replacing venerated chairman Wolfgang Durheimer.
Durheimer is expected to retain his position as the chairman of uber-luxury carmaker Bentley for the time being, but reports suggest that that too will be assumed by Winkelmann at some point in the not-so-distant future. This marks continued progress for the 52-year old Winkelmann up the ranks at Volkswagen AG, after an 11-year stint at the top of Lamborghini before his 18-months spent with Audi Sport.
*Stephan Winkelmann during an interview in 2016.
Winkelmann is credited with the turnaround of Lamborghini, turning the hallowed supercar company from the brink of death to the pink of health, where it continues to remain today. The passion, vision, and dedication he brought to the role is still benefitting the company now, which is largely why VW moved him to Audi Quattro, which saw him rebrand the business to Audi Sport and set in motion a game-plan to grow the lineup of vehicles under their umbrella.
Under his stewardship of Audi Sport, Ingolstadt’s performance offshoot managed to launch the Audi R8 Spyder, the RS5 Coupé and the RS3, and set in motion the development of the rear-wheel drive variants of the R8 supercar and RS4 Avant. Taking his place there will be Michael Julius-Renz, who will be leaving his role with Audi China which he’s held since 2015. Julius-Renz also has history as the head of sales for the four-ringed brand in Germany.
Moving to Bugatti, Winkelmann has a lot of his plate, with the French hypercar manufacturer planning to expand the Chiron family of cars, to include things like the rumoured Chiron Grand Sport and Super Sport in the same mould of the outgoing Veyron. There’s also the possibility that he will also oversee the development of a four-seater four-door Bugatti model, though this remains speculative at this time (as does everything else, really).
Stay tuned to CarShowroom as we bring you more updates as they come.
