Audi Boss Slammed Over Appearance With Trump At Midterm Rally
What might be political advantageous in the U.S. might not play well at home
Audi's boss has come under fire for cozying up to Donald Trump at a Republican campaign event in Georgia. CEO Gernot Döllner joined Trump on stage at Perry, near Macon, to announce a $4 billion investment plan to build the brand's first US factory. But the head of Volkswagen's works council slammed Döllner for appearing with Trump only days before Americans vote in the country's crucial midterm elections.
"Several minutes filled with racism, sexism, xenophobia, transphobia, and contempt for democracy, and then one of our top corporate representatives takes the stage and actively campaigns on behalf of a candidate," an incensed Daniela Cavallo told interviewers, per Der Spiegel. "Anyone who heard Trump's speech and had to witness Döllner becoming an active part of this event must have wanted to sink into the ground in shame," she added.
Cavallo also criticized VW Group chief Oliver Blume for his role. Blume had "let himself be made a puppet in their propaganda show by a highly dubious political figure who violates pretty much every one of our corporate values."
Cavallo wasn't the only senior European car industry figure to berate Döllner for his actions. Christiane Benner, boss of the IG-Metall union, said the Audi CEO's appearance with Trump was "politically unacceptable" and "embarrassing," according to comments quoted by Der Spiegel.
What will Audi build in Georgia, and when?
Audi revealed this weekend that it would spend $4 billion to create its first U.S. production site, creating around 4,500 jobs in the process. Work on the plant starts in 2027, though it will be the early 2030s before the first vehicles roll off the production line.
The plant will produce premium SUVs like the Q7, Q8 and Q9 for the North American market, and be capable of producing up to 200,000 vehicles annually. Until then, Audi's big SUVs for the U.S. and Canada will continue to be built in Europe and shipped across the Atlantic. Audi (along with sister brand Porsche) is one of the few European carmakers without a plant inside the U.S., although it does build the Q5 in Mexico, which means all of its cars are hit with tariffs. That's another reason why Döllner and Blume are in the firing line.
It was Trump who applied the tariffs in the first place, effectively forcing Audi to establish a U.S. plant to avoid them. VW is already making big cuts at home, laying off thousands of workers and closing plants, so the idea of more production being siphoned off to the US will naturally have unions worried.
Audi isn't the only European carmaker without a US production site looking to set up shop in America to escape tariffs. Jaguar Land Rover announced a deal with Stellantis earlier this year that will allow it to build and sell Defender-branded models designed specifically for the North American market.