Benner says Macon investment must go before Volkswagen’s supervisory board
Volkswagen supervisory board deputy chair Christiane Benner said any major investment such as Audi’s planned Macon plant must go before the board. Gernot Döllner, the chief executive of Audi, joined Donald Trump on stage at a rally in Perry, Georgia, on Saturday, where the automaker announced $4bn for its first US factory. The rally in the battleground state came days before the US midterm elections.
Benner, head of the German trade union IG Metall, called Döllner’s US appearance “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.”
Daniela Cavallo, head of Volkswagen’s elected works council, criticized Trump’s speech as full of “racism, sexism, transphobia [and] contempt for democracy.” Döllner joined Trump on stage after the speech. In internal company communications released to German media, Cavallo said anyone who heard the speech and then saw Döllner become an active participant in the event must “sink into the ground with shame.”
Cavallo also said the investment announcement and Döllner’s appearance together showed VW management had allowed itself to be “turned into a puppet in the propaganda show of a highly dubious political figure.”
Isabel Cademartori, transport spokesperson for Germany’s Social Democrats, whose party was part of the country’s ruling coalition, called Döllner’s actions a “disgrace.” She added this was particularly so “in view of the history of the Volkswagen Group,” in an apparent reference to VW’s founding as a showcase company under the Nazis.
A German government spokesperson declined to comment, calling the matter “a business decision regarding where the company invests and, in this case, where the company’s chief executive appears.”
Audi’s Macon plant plan calls for $4bn in spending, 4,500 jobs and 200,000 SUVs a year. “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. He called the plans “a long-term investment because we believe in the American market.” The plans foresee factory construction starting next year and car production beginning in the 2030s. The Guardian described the stage appearance as “a highly unusual move for a European executive during a hard-fought US electoral campaign.”
Volkswagen is locked in a battle between management and labour over a push to cut as many as 100,000 jobs and close factories. The company has blamed the downsizing on competition from Chinese carmakers, US tariffs and the expensive transition to electric vehicles. Its German factories are under pressure to drive down costs, and the Audi facility in Neckarsulm, which employs 15,000 people, is among four VW sites 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.
Audi is the only premium car manufacturer without its own factory in the US, leaving it exposed to Trump’s 15% import tariffs. The Guardian reported that the tariffs cost Audi an estimated €1.2bn last year. Trump has argued ahead of the midterms that his tariffs on car imports are helping the US economy.
On the political context, The Guardian wrote: “Trump is deeply unpopular in Germany and has riled its political mainstream by vocally backing the far-right Alternative für Deutschland.” The newspaper said the AfD was the country’s most popular party according to polls and had actively courted Trump’s support.
The Georgia rally came days before the 3 November election in the state, which The Guardian said could be decisive in Democrats’ battle to regain a majority in the Senate. The Guardian reported that incumbent senator Jon Ossoff was fighting a “tough re-election battle” against Republican challenger Mike Collins in a state Trump won in 2024.