Ex-Audi boss Stadler pleads guilty in German 'dieselgate' trial

Ex-Audi CEO Rupert Stadler pleaded guilty at his "dieselgate" fraud trial Tuesday, admitting that he allowed vehicles equipped with emissions cheating software to remain on sale even after learning of the scam.

The admission at the Munich district court comes as part of a plea deal that will see Stadler, who has been on trial since 2020, escape jail time.Stadler is now the highest-ranking former executive to make a confession in the "dieselgate" scandal that erupted at Audi's parent company Volkswagen in 2015.

German car giant VW -- whose subsidiaries include not just Audi but also Porsche, Skoda and Seat -- admitted in September 2015 that it had installed software to rig emission levels in 11 million diesel vehicles worldwide.