Audi to get Porsche exec as sales chief, reports say

Audi's global head of sales, Hildegard Wortmann, is leaving the automaker and will be replaced by Porsche executive Marco Schubert, German media reports said.

Wortmann has led Audi's sales for the past five years after joining the Volkswagen Group premium brand from BMW.

Wortmann is leaving Audi at her own request, company sources told German publications including business paper Handelsblatt.

Her successor Marco Schubert, 50, has been in charge of Porsche's European sales since 2021. Previously, he was head of Audi's sales division in China. Schubert began his career with Mercedes-Benz.

Schubert's task will be to turn around Audi's flagging sales.

In the first half, Audi's global sales fell 8.2 percent to 832,957 vehicles as supply bottlenecks impacted production, the company said July 25. Audi was forced to cut production shifts this year after heavy rains caused flooding in southern Germany.

The automaker is also in the middle of renewing its product lineup, replacing core products such as the A4, Europe's second bestselling midsize premium car. The new A5 will replace the A4 under Audi's new naming structure.