Luxury carmaker Audi has appointed a new chief executive, the German firm confirmed on Tuesday, after the arrest of former boss Rupert Stadler in connection with cheating on diesel car emissions.

Bram Schot, the head of sales and marketing, has taken over as the firm's acting CEO with immediate effect, the company said, a day after reports first emerged of the leadership change. 

Stadler was suspended as chief executive and from his position on the supervisory board, following his detention by police on Monday.

Prosecutors are investigating Stadler for fraud and indirectly providing false certification, along with planning to influence potential witnesses.

Schot, 56, who is of Dutch origin, has been at the Volkswagen Group subsidiary since September last year.

Munich prosecutors allege that Audi sold at least 210,000 diesel-engine cars fitted with emissions-cheat software in the United States and Europe from 2009 onwards and have been investigating allegations of fraud and illegal product promotion for the past year.

Audi said the leadership changes were temporary "pending clarification of the facts leading to his (Stadler's) arrest."

Prosecutors are also investigating another member of Audi's executive, who has not been named. A former executive at Porsche - another VW subsidiary - who worked on engine development at Audi, is also in custody.

The Audi workers' council and the IG Metall trade union welcomed the decisions at Audi. Peter Mosch, the head of the workers' council, said: "Our members and our brand should not be allowed to continue to suffer under this incriminating situation."

And Irene Schulz, of IG Metall's board, said staff needed "a clear perspective and the certainty that the company could face the questions of the future in the sector."

Audi has 44,000 workers at Ingolstadt and a further 17,000 in Neckarsulm.

Stadler, who headed Audi for 11 years, was held at his home on Monday morning before being brought before a court. A week earlier his private residence was searched for evidence.

In early February, prosecutors searched Audi headquarters in Ingolstadt and offices at the Neckarsulm plant in southern Germany.

The emissions cheating scandal first broke at the Volkswagen Group in September 2015, when VW admitted to cheating pollution standards in more than 11 million diesel vehicles sold around the world.

Schot studied business administration in England and previously worked for Daimler's Mercedes-Benz in Italy and before that at Dutch bank ABN-Amro.

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