After appearance with Trump: scandal over Audi boss: VW switches off comments on the intranet

The announcement of a new US factory should be a success story for Audi. But the joint appearance of CEO Döllner with US President Trump is causing severe resentment within the Volkswagen Group.

The scandal surrounding Audi boss Gernot Döllner at a campaign event for US President Donald Trump continues to cause a stir within the company. Parent company Volkswagen had to turn off the comment function in a joint post on the intranet because employees had become abusive towards Döllner. This is reported by “Spiegel”.

Two days ago, VW published the article "Audi plans first US production site in Georgia" in the company's internal network. According to the magazine, there were more than 200 comments. "The discussion under this article left the scope of a factual exchange of opinions and no longer fell within the terms of use of the Group Wiki and the company agreement 'Partnership behavior in the workplace'." Therefore, the comment function was switched off, a company spokesman confirmed to ntv.de.

At a campaign event on Saturday, Döllner announced the construction of a new Audi factory in the US state of Georgia, where SUV models in particular will roll off the assembly line from the 1930s onwards. According to a report in Focus magazine, Audi will receive $1.4 billion in funding from the state. There would also be further funding from Washington. An Audi spokeswoman declined to comment on the amount of funding. Döllner said it was “a standard package of this size”.

VW works council head Daniela Cavallo said in an interview published on the VW intranet that Döllner's appearance was highly problematic in several respects. The board allowed itself to be “made into a puppet in his propaganda show” by Trump, “a highly dubious political figure who violates pretty much all of our corporate values.”

"Anyone who heard Donald Trump's speech and then noticed that one of our corporate board members, Dr. Döllner, became an active part of this event must sink into the ground in shame," she continued. The employee side on the supervisory board found out about the event with Trump and its contents less than 48 hours in advance.

According to an insider, the supervisory board's executive committee was presented with a fait accompli during the telephone conference on Friday. The date at the election campaign event had already been organized at that time. Cavallo had warned against the joint appearance, said two people familiar with the process.