奥迪首席执行官格诺特·德尔纳表示，他出席美国总统唐纳德·特朗普的竞选集会、宣布公司将在美国建设一座价值40亿美元（约合51亿新元）工厂，是出于汽车制造商的利益。
Audi chief executive officer Gernot Dollner said he acted in the interest of the carmaker when he took part in US President Donald Trump’s campaign rally that announced the company would build a US$4 billion (S$5.1 billion) plant in the country.
两人于周末在佐治亚州同台亮相，距离美国中期选举仅剩数天。此次露面在德国引发批评浪潮，被视为在即将到来的选举中站队。
The two men shared the stage in Georgia over the weekend, days before the US midterm elections. The appearance triggered a wave of criticism in Germany as taking sides in the upcoming vote.
这位奥迪高管当时已赴美就该项目进行会谈，他在一封被彭博新闻社看到的致员工信中表示，公司受邀与特朗普共同宣布该工厂项目获批推进。信中称：“出席的决定纯粹基于公司利益。”
The Audi executive, who had travelled to the US for talks about the project, said the company was asked to announce the go-ahead for the facility together with Trump, Dollner said in a letter to workers seen by Bloomberg News. The decision to appear “was taken solely in the interest of the company”, it said.
德尔纳写道：“同时，我们意识到该宣布被解读为释放了政治立场信号。我们对此非常重视。”位于佐治亚州的规划选址仍需奥迪母公司大众汽车监事会批准，劳方代表在监事会占据半数席位。围绕特朗普集会的风波可能使这一步骤复杂化，并迫使公司在其他方面做出让步。
“At the same time, we realise that the announcement was taken as signalling a political stance,” Dollner wrote. “We take this very seriously.”The planned site in Georgia still needs to be greenlighted at Audi parent Volkswagen’s supervisory board level, where worker representatives hold half the seats. The furore about the Trump rally could complicate this step, and push the company into making concessions elsewhere.
大众汽车和奥迪目前正在德国与工方就工资和严厉的节约措施进行紧张谈判。
VW as well as Audi are in the midst of tense talks on wages and tough savings measures with workers in Germany.
10月26日，德国金属工业工会（IG Metall）主席、大众汽车监事会副主席克里斯蒂安·贝纳称德尔纳的露面“极其尴尬”，并指出劳方对该工厂能否建成拥有话语权。作为广泛重组谈判的一部分，大众汽车正在探索其位于内卡苏尔姆的大型奥迪工厂的替代用途，此前曾表示该工厂可能面临关闭。
On Oct 26, Christiane Benner, the head of IG Metall union and VW’s deputy supervisory board chairwoman, called Dollner’s appearance “highly embarrassing” and pointed to labour’s leverage over whether the factory goes ahead. As part of the broad restructuring talks, VW is looking into alternative uses for its large Audi factory in Neckarsulm after earlier saying the plant could be shut.
她说：“格诺特·德尔纳在美国展示自己和奥迪的方式极其尴尬、在政治上不可接受，且不配拥有这家公司，尤其是其员工。”
“The way Gernot Dollner presented himself and Audi in the US is highly embarrassing, politically unacceptable and unworthy of the company and, above all, its employees,” she said.
大众汽车工会主席丹尼拉·卡瓦洛单独指责德尔纳提供了“积极的竞选协助”。她表示，奥迪内部准则禁止在选举前最后三个月与参选政客公开露面，而德尔纳几个月前才签署了这些原则。
VW’s works council chief Daniela Cavallo separately accused Dollner of providing “active campaign assistance”. She said Audi’s internal guidelines prohibit public-facing appearances with politicians standing for election during the final three months before a vote, and that he had signed those principles only months ago.
在大众汽车试图彻底重塑其工业版图并缩减欧洲国内员工队伍之际，斥资40亿美元在美国建厂的计划应运而生。
The plan to spend US$4 billion on a facility in the US lands in the middle of VW’s attempt to radically reshape its industrial footprint and shrink its domestic workforce in Europe.
大众汽车首席执行官奥利弗·布鲁梅正推动削减岗位和工厂成本，同时加大对包括美国在内的增长市场的投资。欧洲最大车企正因需求疲软、中国竞争激烈以及向电动化和软件定义汽车转型成本高昂而举步维艰。
VW CEO Oliver Blume is pushing to cut jobs and factory costs while investing more heavily in growth markets including the US. Europe’s largest carmaker is struggling with weak demand, fierce Chinese competition and the costly shift to electric and software-defined vehicles.
由于奥迪在美国销售的大多数车辆仍依靠进口，该品牌对美国贸易政策转向尤为敏感，这使其容易受到关税冲击，而关税已推高了大众汽车北美业务的整体成本。德尔纳于10月25日表示，奥迪品牌目前在美国处于亏损状态。彭博社
Audi is particularly exposed to the US trade shift because it still imports most of the vehicles it sells there, leaving the brand vulnerable to tariffs that have already raised costs across VW’s North American business. Dollner on Oct 25 said that the Audi brand is losing money in the US currently. BLOOMBERG