There's been a bit of an executive shuffle going on at Volkswagen Group's premium brands lately following the announced retirement of Bugatti and Bentley CEO Wolfgang Durheimer. Appointed only last year, Audi Sport GmbH CEO Stephan Winkelmann, whose previously ran Lamborghini for 11 years, is set to become Bugatti's new boss. Who will be taking his place at Audi Sport? That will be Michael Renz, a 20-year VW Group executive.

He'll be leaving his role as President of Audi Sales in China to take the reins from Winkelmann and right away he has a lot on his plate. By 2020, Audi Sport will expand its current range of 11 vehicles to 16; launching five new models in two years' time is not easy. Furthermore, in just the past six years alone Audi Sport (formerly Quattro GmbH) has more than doubled its sales, and 2017 looks to be another record sales year. Question is, what will those new models be? We've been hearing things for a while now about a possible twin-turbo V6 version of the R8, but we also expect to see vehicle electrification in some form happen.

This will be separate from the upcoming E-Tron GT four-door coupe, which isn't due to arrive until 2022 at the earliest. Renz's main task will be to firmly establish Audi Sport as a major player in the global market, aiming squarely at the BMW M and Mercedes-AMG. We can't wait to see what's about to come.