Audi of America President Mark Del Rosso is stepping down after less than six months at the helm, the company announced today. Current Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Cian O’Brien will fill the role on an interim basis. Neither Audi or Del Rosso have provided any specifics as to why Del Rosso is departing so suddenly, or whether it was his choice to step down. This is the third top executive change for Audi of America in seven years.
This change spells further trouble for Audi of America and continues a trend of executive and managerial changes that began in 2012. That was when the company lost Johan de Nysschen, the man largely responsible for the automaker’s years of success in the American market.
De Nysschen led the German automaker’s American arm to great sales and acclaim until May 2012, when he left to run Infiniti and, later, Cadillac. Scott Keogh followed de Nysschen and ran Audi of America until last December when Keogh was promoted to CEO of Volkswagen Group of America, with Del Rosso replacing him at Audi.
Now exactly 153 days later, Audi’s American arm is again without a formal leader. This kind of turnover at the top echelons is unheard of for a modern major manufacturer, and this news further darkens Audi’s U.S. prospects in the near term. Its new car designs have failed to receive the acclaim the automaker enjoyed in the early 2000s, the company has not enjoyed a record sales month since September of 2018, and this year’s sales are down 8.7 percent so far.
Del Rosso’s interim successor has been Audi of America’s COO since April 2017. It is unclear how long he will be required to fill the president role, or if he will eventually be handed the top spot formally. O’Brien has worked for more than two decades in the automotive industry. Before he was COO of Audi of America, O’Brien was head of sales operations for Audi UK, the German automaker’s fourth-largest market, starting in 2014. His experience at Audi UK, combined with his recent time overseeing America’s dealer network, should give him ample experience to try to turn around Audi’s recent fortunes in the U.S.
BYD has launched the third-generation Qin Plus DM-i in China, and the first thing that caught my eye is its price. According to CarNewsChina, the plug-in hybrid sedan starts at 79,900 yuan, which is about $11,980. That’s an incredibly low price for a brand-new car, especially by US standards.
What’s even more impressive is the range. The Qin Plus DM-i can drive up to 137 miles on electricity alone, which should cover most people’s daily commutes without using a drop of gas. Once the battery runs out, the 1.5-liter engine takes over. Thanks to its 17-gallon tank and roughly 91 mpg with a drained battery, the combined range reaches up to 1,423 miles.
Apple won the PC market’s worst quarter, but that’s not the entire story. It won the race by stumbling less than everyone else.
PC makers shipped just 57 million computers worldwide in Q3, which might look good, but it’s a 21% year-over-year plunge (via Counterpoint Research). And despite Apple’s Mac shipments falling by 11%, to 5.6 million, its market share rose from 8.7% to 9.8%. How did that happen?
Update (October 22 23:54 PT): In response to our query, GM clarified that offline recording support is already available on eligible vehicles. Like Tesla's Sentry Mode, it requires owners to connect a USB drive to save incident recordings, which can be viewed on the vehicle's infotainment screen. The upcoming Connected Cameras feature will build on this by giving owners remote access to these recordings via the revamped OnStar app, allowing them to check footage without walking out to their car.
General Motors has announced plans to add a new Connected Cameras feature to its OnStar service starting next year, giving drivers a way to monitor parked vehicles remotely and capture footage of certain incidents.