Audi’s chief executive has defended sharing a campaign stage with United States President Donald Trump, telling staff the decision was taken solely in the interest of the company.
Gernot Döllner appeared alongside Trump at a rally in Perry, Georgia, on October 24, days before the US mid-term elections on November 3. The president used the event to announce that Audi would build its first American factory, a $4 billion (€3.4 billion) plant in the state.
The appearance drew heavy criticism in Germany, where it was read as the head of a Volkswagen Group brand taking sides in an American election campaign.
In a letter to employees, published by Audi on its website, Döllner said a company delegation had travelled to Georgia to advance negotiations on the planned site and had been asked to present the plans with the president. Confidentiality around the talks had prevented the company from telling workers in advance, he wrote.
He acknowledged that the announcement had been read as a political signal and said Audi was taking that seriously.
“We have significantly greater ambitions for Audi in America,” Döllner told reporters on October 25, adding that Germany remained the backbone of the brand and that Georgia would take no work away from German sites.
The factory is planned for a site near Perry and would assemble the Q7, Q8 and Q9 from the early 2030s, with capacity for up to 200,000 vehicles a year and about 4,500 jobs. Roughly half of that output would be exported.
The investment still requires approval from the supervisory board of Volkswagen Group, Audi’s parent, where worker representatives hold half the seats.
Christiane Benner, leader of the IG Metall union and deputy chair of that board, called the appearance deeply embarrassing and unworthy of the company, and pointed to the union’s weight in deciding whether the plant goes ahead. Volkswagen works council chief Daniela Cavallo also rounded on Döllner, accusing him of letting Audi be made part of a political spectacle.
Labour representatives have questioned whether an American plant would bring tariff relief for the wider group and are expected to seek guarantees for German sites in return for their backing.
Audi imports every car it sells in the US and has been badly exposed to Trump’s duties on imported vehicles, with the company reporting a 19.7 per cent fall in core-brand deliveries in the third quarter. Four Volkswagen plants in Germany, among them Audi’s Neckarsulm site in the southwest, face possible closure after 2030.
The row lands as European carmakers shift investment towards the US while cutting capacity at home, a drift the European Union has yet to halt with its industrial policy or its trade talks with Washington.
