Audi is a division of Volkswagen. Audi's supervisory board has yet to sign off on the nomination, Sueddeutsche said.

A Volkswagen spokesman said the carmaker had not yet made a formal decision about a new chief executive for Audi.

Stadler is the most senior company official to be detained so far since Volkswagen (VW) admitted in September 2015 to using illegal software to rig U.S. emissions tests on diesel engines.

(Reporting by Edward Taylor and Jan Schwartz; Editing by Maria Sheahan)