During a rally in Georgia, Trump revealed that Audi intends to invest about $4 billion to establish a new factory and start making cars in the U. S. for the first time. Döllner was on stage with Trump and expressed his gratitude for the support.
This announcement arrives as Volkswagen is grappling with a significant crisis due to a major restructuring in Germany, which is expected to lead to factory closures and large-scale layoffs.
MEP Dennis Radtke from the center-right Christian Democratic Union party also criticized Döllner’s presence at the Republican campaign event. “Donald Trump’s policies are massively damaging German industry, including the automotive industry,” he stated to German media outlet Handelsblatt.
“The fact that German companies invest abroad is initially a completely normal and understandable process. However, to turn this into an election campaign staging for Donald Trump is disturbing and pathetic,” he added.
German union leaders joined in condemning Döllner’s actions. Christiane Benner, chair of IG Metall, Germany’s largest industrial trade union, remarked on Monday: “The way in which Gernot Döllner presented himself and Audi in the USA is highly embarrassing, politically unacceptable, and unworthy of the company – and, above all, unworthy of the people who work at Audi.
“Döllner is flagrantly violating the company’s own internal policies, which explicitly mandate political neutrality in the lead-up to elections,” she added.
