Volkswagen Workers Don't Love The Audi-Trump Alliance

Happy Tuesday! It's October 27, 2026, and this is The Morning Shift — your daily roundup of the top automotive headlines from around the world, in one place. This is where you'll find the most important stories that are shaping the way Americans drive and get around.

In this morning's edition we're looking at the fallout of Audi's tie-up with Trump, and the U.S. car market drifting away from the rest of the world. We'll also look at the state of Livewire, and the latest numbers from Porsche. 

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Gernot Döllner, CEO of Audi, took the stage with U.S. President Donald Trump at a campaign rally to announce the construction of a new factory. I asked at the time whether hitching your corporate wagon to a historically disliked politician who faces an all-time midterm rout was a good idea, but there was an angle I hadn't considered: What Audi's workers, based in Germany, would think. Turns out they're not huge fans, and they control enough of the company to make that a problem. From Automotive News: 

BERLIN — Audi CEO Gernot Döllner's on-stage embrace of President Trump during the announcement of a new U.S. factory for the brand is drawing fierce criticism in Germany, handing unions new leverage over Volkswagen Group's restructuring plans.

...

Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ), one of Germany's leading newspapers, described Döllner's appearance alongside Trump as "Bending the Knee in Georgia." Other commentators labeled the Audi chief, a key ally of VW Group CEO Oliver Blume, a national embarrassment.

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An investment of this scale must be approved by VW Group's supervisory board. Under Germany's co-determination laws, half of the board's seats are held by labor representatives, while VW Group's home state of Lower Saxony holds two seats.

Volkswagen is looking to shutter factories and lay off workers at home, but it suddenly has money for an all-new factory in the U.S. — all to appease a president who's not particularly loved by most. I'm no fancy big-city MBA, but I probably would've handled just about all of this differently. 

See that up there? That's the GM EV1, a car that signaled General Motors' interest in exploring electrification back in the '90s. Yet, in the 30 years since that car's launch, both General Motors and the country in which it's based have largely rejected the EV — a stance that's increasingly making both company and country international pariahs. From Automotive News: 

The global market for electric vehicles continues to grow, with a notable exception: the U.S.

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Around the world, governments are pursuing disparate regulatory and incentive strategies, and consumers want different types of vehicles. The strategies vary — China has built significant demand through industrial policy and subsidies, while Europe has relied on more measured regulatory boosts. Emerging markets are embracing EVs in part because of limited access to fossil fuels. But across the globe, the U.S. appears to be the odd one out.

Is the U.S. "going to become a small, lucrative market with specialty vehicles, or are we going to be able to compete in the scale business of autos worldwide?" said Mike Murphy, the founder of EVs for All America, a group trying to eliminate the partisan divide over EVs. "That future is very uncertain."

I've long said that the U.S. stands to become a niche market with this kind of decision-making, an isolationist economy that's out of step with global trends and lacks access to the best the world has to offer. Add in that many Americans are getting broker and broker, less and less able to afford new cars, and it's no wonder when automakers don't send their coolest stuff here. We're not worth it. 

Livewire makes some very cool bikes, but they aren't exactly sales superheroes. Maybe it's the pricing, maybe it's the product-market fit, but Livewire bikes don't fly off dealer floors the way Sportsters do. Now, Livewire has lost its CEO, and he's being replaced with a Chief Restructuring Officer. From the Wall Street Journal:

Those struggles came to a head on Monday when LiveWire announced that a special restructuring committee is weighing the company's options following the resignation of Chief Executive Karim Donnez last week. The committee appointed Roy Gallagher, senior managing director of Ankura Consulting Group, to be the company's chief restructuring officer.

The company said the moves are "intended to facilitate a comprehensive evaluation of our strategic alternatives." LiveWire shares closed up 2% Monday, though they are down 62% since the start of the year.

"I think this is really just a realization of economics," said John Healy, an analyst for Northcoast Research. "It's a great concept, but maybe not ready for the masses at this point."

If Livewire goes under, can it open-source the S2 platform real quick on its way out? I want a Del Mar, but I don't want to pay dealer prices to maintain it. 

Porsche has had a plan for 2026: Get smaller. Sell fewer units, but make more profit per car — a strategy that should help the automaker survive through economic tumult. So far, things seem to be working out. From Reuters: 

Sports car maker Porsche on Tuesday reported a ‌recovery in profit in the first nine months of the year, in an early sign CEO Michael Leiters' turnaround plan to downsize and retreat from China is yielding results.

Leiters took office at the start of the year at ​Porsche, part of the Volkswagen (VOWG.DE), opens new tab group. Porsche's supervisory board appointed him to change course after ​the company's electrification strategy failed to take off, resulting in €2.7 billion ($3 billion) in ⁠restructuring costs.

We could be seeing the Rollsification of Porsche, where the company focusses more on its six- and seven-figure cars than the base Macan that would move more units. Good luck ever getting a cheap used Porsche if the company continues this way. 

My close personal friend, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

Nearly two cents down from yesterday! Buy the dip, or whatever it is that Gamestop cultists say. 

It's an Uncle Carol day.