Volkswagen AG has fired the head of Audi in the US and Canada after he publicly criticised Volkswagen’s slow-selling Phaeton grand saloon and its spiritual father, former VW chairman Ferdinand Piëch.

Volkswagen AG has fired the head of Audi in the US and Canada after he publicly criticised Volkswagen’s slow-selling Phaeton grand saloon and its spiritual father, former VW chairman Ferdinand Piech.
According to a report, Axel Mees recently told a press gathering that the Phaeton was not meeting its sales targets because Volkswagen “underestimated the weakness of the VW brand in the luxury market”.
He was also widely reported to have stated that Piech "was an engineer and he wanted to prove that he can build great cars, and he didn't look at the marketing aspect, the brand aspect."
A spokesman for Volkswagen AG in Wolfsburg said that Mees was fired solely for the critical comments he made and not for slumping Audi sales in the United States.

Original article from Car