Audi Chief Executive Gernot Döllner is facing criticism in Germany after appearing Saturday at a Republican campaign event in Georgia with U.S. President Donald Trump, where Trump announced a planned Audi factory in the state days before U.S. midterm elections^2,3.

Christiane Benner, president of the IG Metall union, said the appearance was “extremely embarrassing, politically unacceptable and not worthy of the company,” and accused Döllner of violating Audi’s commitment to political neutrality before elections².

DW reported that Audi’s code of conduct, published in April and signed by Döllner, bars public appearances with parties or politicians standing for election, and sponsorship of their events, during the three months before a vote³.

The Local Germany said Trump announced Audi would invest $4.2 billion in its first U.S. plant, in Macon, Georgia, with about 4,500 jobs and capacity of about 200,000 vehicles a year². DW described the factory as about $4 billion (€3.4 billion) and said it would mainly build large SUVs³.

Benner said the Georgia investment has not been signed off by all relevant Volkswagen group bodies and that the final decision would rest with Volkswagen’s supervisory board, of which she is deputy chair^2,3. She said employee representatives wanted safeguards for German sites alongside a North American strategy³.

The announcement comes as Volkswagen is pursuing cost cuts in Germany. The Local said Audi’s Neckarsulm plant, with about 15,000 employees, is among sites under pressure².

Lower Saxony Premier Olaf Lies, whose state is Volkswagen’s second-largest shareholder, said a campaign rally was not the right place to announce an investment of that scale and that the appearance had caused concern among employees worried about jobs in Germany³.

BMW and Mercedes-Benz already operate large U.S. plants, The Local noted². What remains unsettled is whether Volkswagen’s supervisory board will approve the plant and how it would affect German production^2,3.