BERLIN - Volkswagen AG, Europe's biggest car maker, said Tuesday that Bernd Pischetsrieder will step down as chief executive after four years and be replaced by Martin Winterkorn, head of the company's premium Audi unit. ADVERTISEMENT Pischetsrieder, who got a five-year contract extension in May, leaves with the company profitable but in the midst of a painful cost-cutting program. Volkswagen said the executive committee of its board of directors recommended Winterkorn take over on Jan. 1. The full board will decide on the move at a meeting on Nov. 17, it said in a statement. It didn't explain the reasons for the departure of Pischetsrieder or say whether he would continue in any role at the company. The announcement came the same day VW's closest European rival, French car maker PSA Peugeot Citroen SA, named former Airbus CEO Christian Streiff as its new chief executive. Streiff replaces Jean-Martin Folz, who announced in September that he planned to step down after 10 years amid deteriorating sales and earnings. Pischetsrieder, 58, is leaving Volkswagen without seeing through a restructuring program including cutting as many as 20,000 jobs and introducing longer working hours for those who remain in Germany.