German FAZ: The New One in Hell by Audi006308

Great tasks await the new Audi boss Gernot Döllner in Ingolstadt.
Image: Volkswagen AG

Gernot Döllner should lead the brand with the four rings out of the crisis. Unlike his predecessor, he has full support from the parent company, Volkswagen. But is that enough to bring calm to the unsettled company?

It is exactly seven years since Gernot Döllner celebrated one of his greatest successes as an engineer at Porsche. Back then, in the summer of 2016, he was head of production for the Panamera model – and had his team drive the car around the Nürburgring for a performance show. Result: In just seven minutes and 38 seconds, the sports car passed the 20-kilometre-long Nordschleife, known as the “Green Hell” because of its dangerous, narrow curves in the Eifel forests.

From then on, the Panamera was considered the fastest luxury sedan in the world, and among managers in the Porsche realm who love horsepower, it was exactly the stuff dreams are made of. Döllner then rose quickly, most recently to the position of chief strategist in the parent company Volkswagen.

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