VW board 'suspends R&D heads of core brand, Audi, Porsche'

Volkswagen has suspended the R&D chiefs of its core VW brand, luxury division Audi and sports-car maker Porsche, sources familiar with the matter said on Monday.

The carmaker's supervisory board last Friday agreed to put a number of employees on leave until the details of VW's emissions cheating scandal were cleared up, without providing names.

Reuters reported last Thursday that VW would fire top brand executives as it tries to recover from the scandal. Audi, VW and Porsche declined comment.

(Reporting by Andreas Cremer; Editing by Keith Weir)