Audi's parent company, Volkswagen (VW), announced on Monday that the premium carmaker's controversial chief executive, Rupert Stadler, would remain at the head of Audi.

Volkswagen Group CEO and Audi Board Chairman Matthias Müller said in a statement that Stadler had "proved his worth" for the company, and added: "Audi has recently passed through a difficult phase, but together with the workforce, the new team in the Board of Management will systematically push forward with Audi's transformation towards the future."

Stadler had been under pressure ever since the luxury carmaker had become embroiled in the diesel emissions scandal of its parent VW two years ago. But he has enjoyed the backing of the Piech and Porsche families - the powerful majority owners of the company.

Rather than Stadler, four Audi board members - out of a total of seven - had to bow out, with the VW leadership blaming them for internal mismanagement, broken promises and slumping sales.

During Monday's extraordinary board meeting, four new members to the board were appointed to portfolios including Finance and IT, Marketing and Sales, Human Resources and Organization, as well as Production and Logistics. All of them come from the VW group, where they held different management positions.

CEO Stadler said that the task of Audi managers and supervisors was to now "critically review the current situation," and to "systematically move forward with our transformation towards e-mobility, digitization and mobility services."

Audi works council chairman Peter Mosch expressed the hope for an "open and critical dialog" with management, and said: "The upcoming transformation must be shaped so that both business success and the interests of the workforce are sustainably balanced."

uhe/tr (dpa, Reuters)