Audi Brussels: change in the management as of May 1

• Patrick Danau to succeed to Gerhard Schneider as General Director for Production, Technology and Logistics
• Audi Board of Management Member for Production Dr. Hubert Waltl: “Danau will continue the successful development of Audi Brussels”
• Audi Board of Management Member for Human Resources Thomas Sigi: “With Danau, we have a recognized production expert on board”

Brussels/Ingolstadt – Patrick Danau (58) will succeed to Gerhard Schneider (52) as of May 1. He will take over the positions of General Director for Production, Technology and Logistics and Spokesperson of the Management of AUDI BRUSSELS S.A./N.V. Danau is currently Managing Director of Volkswagen Navarra, S.A., Spain and will return to his original place of work at the Brussels plant, where he held various management positions in plant planning and assembly over a period of 20 years.

“Patrick Danau is an experienced executive, he is fully acquainted with the operation of the Brussels plant from his many years of experience there,” stated Dr. Hubert Waltl, Audi’s Board of Management Member for Production and Chairman of the Advisory Board of Audi Brussels. “He will guarantee that the successful development of the Brussels plant will be continued.”

Thomas Sigi, Board of Management Member for Human Resources and Labor Relations Director at AUDI AG as well as Member of the Advisory Board of Audi Brussels, emphasized: “Patrick Danau is a recognized expert in production. We are delighted to have him on board the management team in Brussels.”

Danau studied electro-mechanical engineering at the Hoger Technical Institute Sint-Antonius, in Ghent, Belgium, where he was born. He started his career in the assembly department of the Brussels plant in 1978. From 1982 until 1984, he was responsible for production at the VW plant in Uitenhage in South Africa. After that, he held senior positions in planning and assembly at the Brussels plant until 2006. Subsequently, he was Head of Production at the VW plant in Emden, Germany; later he was responsible for the technical management of Auto 5000 and then transferred to the VW plant in Pamplona, Spain, at first as Director for Production and as Managing Director as of 2011.

Hubert Waltl thanked Gerhard Schneider for his commitment and successful activities at Audi Brussels. He stated that Schneider had successfully expanded the Brussels plant and that Audi Brussels now had great flexibility in its production ramp-ups. He added that with the A1 family*, supplemented by the Audi S1* and Audi S1 Sportback*, the Brussels plant was an important element in the Audi growth strategy.