Audi boss helps US President: puppet in Trump's propaganda show

I n the “darkest parts of German history,” the Nazis also needed “spineless stirrup holders,” says Bluesky about Audi boss Gernot Döllner’s appearance at a Donald Trump campaign event. But: Comparisons with the Audi parent company VW, which was supposed to build “Volkswagen” as a Nazi prestige project from 1937 and thus economically consolidate the power of the German fascists, are – once again – wrong: Trump ≠ Hitler. In addition, the comparisons do not do justice to Döllner's sycophancy with the US President a few days before the midterms.

This is the Audi plan: The Ingolstadt-based company wants to build a plant with 4,500 jobs in Georgia for four billion US dollars, with production starting in the early 2030s.

But how and where the company boss announced this is controversial, to say the least: she is “sinking into the ground with shame,” says VW Group works council head Daniela Cavallo. About the fact that the German CEO made himself “a puppet” in Trump’s “propaganda show” with his one-minute appearance: “Several minutes full of racism, sexism, xenophobia, transphobia, contempt for democracy,” says Cavallo, “and then one of our top corporate representatives comes on stage and actively helps the campaign.”

Others feel the same way: SPD traffic expert Isabel Cademartori assesses Döllner's gig as "campaign aid for an autocrat who is waging a trade war against Germany." Criticism even comes from the Union: For the head of the CDU workers' wing, Dennis Radtke, Döllner's speech is "disturbing and pathetic."

The outrage over Trump's new kipper is understandable. From an economic point of view, building a new plant in Georgia makes perfect sense for the struggling car brand.

Audi can benefit even if there are simultaneous considerations about job cuts at the domestic plants in Ingolstadt and Neckarsulm. Ultimately, the group reduces customs, currency and supply chain risks by producing in the USA. In addition, Audi parts manufactured in Germany will be used in the USA - thus helping to make better use of weak German locations.

Chinese car manufacturers are currently also building plants in Europe, an important market for them - in order to avoid EU customs barriers and to produce close to their customers. Volkswagen has been thinking about new production facilities in the USA for decades. The important reason for this was always that the corporate brands were not represented enough overseas. It was only in January that the construction of an Audi factory was scrapped, allegedly because there were not enough subsidies from the US government. Audi's competitors BMW and Mercedes have long been there.

Audi is doing poorly in the USA. The Trump tariffs cost the brand 1.2 billion euros last year, and sales fell by 12 percent. The states are currently only supplied from Europe – and a plant in Mexico. The Q5 has been built here since 2016, and the large SUVs Q7, Q8 and Q9 are to be produced in the USA.

And here comes the absolutely fatal part of Döllner's announcement: Audi is building a plant exclusively for combustion cars. This should be profitable because it also exports to Europe. The triumph of electromobility will continue here, even if the EU decides to massively weaken the ban on the sale of CO₂ slingshots previously planned for 2035.

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But the few combustion engines that are still sold in Europe are said to come from the USA. If the Audi boss's current PR meltdown doesn't damage the company's image so much that the numbers continue to plummet. Elon Musk also stopped working for Trump as a bureaucracy cutter in May 2025. Because the image suffered as a result, Tesla sales collapsed.

First of all, Döllner's future is in danger. He broke the Audi rules of conduct that were only published in April. According to this, company representatives are not allowed to hold any publicly effective appointments with parties/politicians standing for election “in the last three months before elections”. The ultimately responsible body, the VW supervisory board, will approve the construction of the plant despite the outrage in the employee camp. But whether Döllner's contract, which actually runs until 2030, is still secure - questionable.