Audi boss under fire in Germany for Trump rally appearance

The head of the luxury carmaker Audi is under fire in Germany for appearing at a rally with Donald Trump just days before the US midterm elections, to announce billions of dollars of investment in battleground state Georgia. Gernot Döllner joined Trump on stage after the US president gave a speech criticized by the head of an elected body of employees at Audi's parent company, Volkswagen.

Daniela Cavallo, the head of the VW works council, called Trump's speech full of "racism, sexism, transphobia [and] contempt for democracy" and said anyone who heard it and then saw Döllner participating must "sink into the ground with shame", according to internal company communications released to German media.

Investment Announcement

Döllner and Trump announced to the crowd on Saturday that Audi would spend $4 billion to build its first factory in the US and create 4,500 jobs, even as VW aims to slash tens of thousands of positions and close plants in Germany. We are planning to bring our biggest and most premium SUVs, and produce them here in Macon, Georgia, Döllner said at the rally in Perry near Macon.

Political Fallout

Isabel Cademartori, the transport spokesperson for Germany's Social Democrats – part of the country's ruling coalition – called Döllner's actions a "disgrace", particularly "in view of the history of the Volkswagen Group", in an apparent reference to VW's founding as a showcase company under the Nazis.

Christiane Benner, head of the powerful German trade union IG Metall, described Döllner's US appearance as "extremely embarrassing, politically unacceptable and unworthy of the company, but above all of Audi's employees". She accused him of being in "flagrant breach" of the company's code of conduct, "which expressly requires political neutrality in the run-up to elections".

Company Context

Audi is the only premium car manufacturer without its own factory in the US, making it particularly vulnerable to Trump's punishing 15% import tariffs, which cost it an estimated €1.2 billion last year. The Macon plant would build 200,000 SUVs annually.

Volkswagen is currently locked in a battle between management and labor over a push to cut as many as 100,000 jobs and close factories. It has blamed the downsizing on intense competition from Chinese carmakers, as well as US tariffs and the expensive transition to electric vehicles.

Its German factories are under particular pressure to drive down costs, with Audi's facility in Neckarsulm, which employs 15,000 people, among four VW plants threatened with closure from early next decade. "Each site must do its part in terms of competitiveness and the long-term strength of Audi," a company spokesperson said.