The heads continue to roll at Volkswagen AG. This time it's Bugatti President Thomas Bscher who'll be hitting the bricks after a weekend tiff with Volkswagen head honcho Martin Winterkorn — and, once again, the replacement comes from Audi's ranks.
Bscher, who took the wheel at Bugatti in 2003, had performed something of a miracle in bringing the superlative 252-mph Bugatti Veyron 16.4 to market — turning the stalled project around and delivering two full years' production, about 100 cars. Apparently, though, the former Le Mans driver's push for money to develop a second Bugatti model hit a brick wall. VW says former Audi boss Franz-Josef Paefgen, now heading up Bentley, will take the reins at Bugatti too, as Bscher leaves "by mutual agreement" at the end of the month.
The question now is whether the Veyron will survive Bscher's departure. We lost one Veyron a week ago to a rainy English highway. Let's hope this ne plus ultra machine does better in Paefgen's hands.
Bugatti President Resigns [Edmunds Inside Line, BBC]
