Head of VW's Audi arrested in Germany over diesel scandal

Audi's parent, the Volkswagen Group, confirmed that Stadler was detained this morning but that the "hearing to determine whether he will be remanded is ongoing".

It may be noted that this probably the biggest arrest in the Dieselgate scandal that shook the operations of German auto manufacturing company Volkswagen post-2015.

Audi said in a statement last week that it was "co-operating with the authorities" in the probe.

"The arrest warrant is based on concealment of evidence", Munich prosecutors, who raided Stadler's home last week, said in a statement.

The arrest of the Audi CEO comes just weeks after Volkswagen tapped a new CEO to move the company past the scandal.

The United States filed criminal charges against former VW CEO Martin Winterkorn in May, but he is unlikely to face USA authorities because Germany does not extradite its nationals to countries outside the European Union.

Audi had no immediate comment regarding the arrest, and Stadler himself as well as Munich prosecutors were not immediately available for comment. The executive was arrested at his home in Ingolstadt in the early hours on Monday, they said. It said shortly afterward that a judge had ordered him kept in custody pending possible charges at prosecutors' request.

In the Reuters report, Stadler had his contract extended in 2017 and was named as a suspect alongside another unnamed member of Audi's board of management. It is thought that 11 million VW Group cars have been fitted with emissions manipulation devices.

Most of its problems have been in the United States, where a total of nine people have been charged and two former VW executives have pleaded guilty and been sentenced to prison terms. According to reports, the entire scandal has taken a heavy toll on the German vehicle manufacturers as it has cost it about 25 billion euros in buybacks, compensation and regulatory fines.

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