Porsche has announced that Wolfgang Hatz, the R&D boss who has been on leave since the start of the VW diesel emissions scandal last year, is leaving the company by mutual consent.
The official release has clearly been translated from German, and, we suspect, under the close supervision of a roomful of lawyers. We feel it?s worth sharing some of its ultra-cautious language in full:
?At the very beginning of the diesel issue in the Volkswagen Group in late September last year, Hatz went on temporary leave as a precaution. Since then, he has been involved in the investigation, though enquiries have shown no evidence of any co-responsibility by Hatz so far. Nevertheless he has decided to leave Porsche AG due to the ongoing internal investigations and his resulting prolonged leave of absence.? Hardly a ringing endorsement, but probably the best that Hatz could have hoped for given the circumstances. He had been Porsche?s director for R&D since 2011, holding the job in parallel with his other role as overall head of engine and transmission development for the whole Volkswagen Group. We?re still trying to find out if he is simultaneously leaving that role, and we will update the story accordingly when we find out.
Hatz served as head of the Porsche?s huge Weissach engineering site and was one of the guiding forces behind the hybrid 918 Spyder, the Le Mans race program, and the development of the Mission E concept and the production car that will be spun off it. Prior to ...