Gernot Döllner criticised for in-person announcement of major investment in US days before midterm elections

The head of the luxury carmaker Audi is under fire in Germany for appearing at a rally with Donald Trump just days before the US midterm elections, to announce billions of dollars of investment in battleground state Georgia.

Gernot Döllner joined Trump on stage after the US president gave a speech criticised by the head of an elected body of employees at Audi’s parent company, Volkswagen, as being full of “racism, sexism, transphobia [and] contempt for democracy”.

VW investment, creating 4,500 jobs in Georgia, comes amid Trump’s damaging tariffs, intense Chinese competition and costly shift towards EVs

Audi has said it will spend $4bn (£3bn) to build its first factory in the US, as its parent company, Volkswagen, struggles with the impact of steep tariffs imposed by Donald Trump.

The German brand’s chief executive, Gernot Döllner, joined Trump on stage at a campaign rally on Saturday night to announce the factory in Macon, Georgia, in an unusual move by a big European brand just days before the US midterm elections.

Be Ready campaign aims to prepare UK for impact of climate crisis, technological dependency and threats by hostile state

Every Briton is being urged to stock up to nine litres of bottled water and three days’ worth of food in new government guidance designed to ensure that households can survive a weather, cyber or other serious emergency.

The Be Ready campaign is aimed at persuading people to stock up with supplies to last 72 hours, amid growing official concern about the impact of the climate crisis, technological dependency and hostile state threats.

British government must however align with the European Union’s position over tariffs on Chinese EVs

France has dropped its opposition to the UK being included in the EU’s “Made in Europe” legislation as long as the British government aligns with the bloc’s position over tariffs on Chinese EVs.

In a breakthrough for Andy Burnham, France on Thursday came round to backing Germany, which has always supported the UK’s calls to be designated European for the purposes of the Industrial Accelerator Act. The legislation, which is in its draft stage, is designed to protect domestic manufacturing from cheap Chinese competition.

Ola Källenius says it will ‘weaken the industry on both sides’ ahead of act intended to counter non-EU competition

Locking the UK out of the EU’s flagship industrial “Made in Europe” legislation would amount to a “deliberate choice” by EU leaders to “hurt” the car industry across the bloc, the head of Mercedes-Benz has said.

Speaking in his capacity as president of the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA), Ola Källenius said such a move would “weaken the industry on both sides”.

Oliver Blume says ‘Made in Europe’ rules to counter rapid rise of lower-price Chinese brands ‘must reward real value creation’

The boss of Volkswagen has backed EU proposals to boost its domestic industry, arguing European carmakers need to be able to “compete under comparable conditions” with Chinese rivals.

Oliver Blume said “Made in Europe” rules from the EU “must reward real value creation in Europe”, speaking in Paris before the motor show this week.

Exclusive: Former minister’s review warns that dramatic action is needed over huge drop in youth apprenticeship starts

A national apprenticeship readiness scheme should be introduced in England to close the gap for young people between leaving school and starting work, the government is to be told.

Alan Milburn, who is leading a major review into Britain’s youth jobs crisis, will call for a new “national pre-apprenticeship route” to offer young people further education, training and work experience.

Mood in trade talks said to have changed as EU member states harden demands for protection against Chinese imports

EU trade negotiators are heading to China for two days of crunch talks aimed at sealing a breakthrough deal tackling Beijing’s record £1bn-a-day trade surplus by curbing its exports of cheap hybrid electric cars into Europe.

Trade commissioner Maroš Šefčovič and his team fly out on Wednesday and will be negotiating up to the wire in talks scheduled to start the following day and continue late into Friday.

Move would strengthen Britain’s case to be included in new legislation to protect European manufacturing

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The UK is considering whether to impose tariffs on Chinese car imports to align itself with the EU and strengthen its case to be included in new legislation designed to protect the European manufacturing sectors including autos and chemicals.

It is understood the EU has raised the question of tariffs with the UK as part of the discussions on the upcoming “Made in Europe” legislation, known as the Industrial Accelerator Act.

Britain under pressure to put tariffs on cheap Chinese vehicle imports ahead of protectionist trade measures

Britain’s car industry is grappling with a “difficult trade-off” between China and Europe, as manufacturers struggle to balance the benefits of both markets ahead of looming trade measures that could restrict UK exports to the EU.

The UK is an outlier in choosing not to put import taxes on Chinese vehicles, even as the US has shut them out almost entirely, and the EU imposes duties of up to 45%.

IPPR finds failure to align testing standards has forced companies to abandon exporting to EU and is costing costing 0.18% of national income

The UK is losing out on annual exports to the EU that could be worth as much as £6.5bn without a deal with Brussels that allows manufacturers to jettison duplicate product testing.

In the latest attempt to calculate the loss of trade with the EU after Brexit, the IPPR thinktank said many companies have given up selling goods to the EU or set up subsidiaries inside the trade bloc after successive governments failed to secure a mutual recognition agreement that would avoid the extra administration costs.

Motor vehicle and part exports would have been between £2.48bn and £3.42bn higher each year.

Electronic exports could have been between £1.17bn and £1.67bn higher.

Pharmaceutical exports would have had an estimated annual uplift of between £740m and £820m.

Torcal SUV can travel up to 375 miles on a single charge and is part of a £350m investment in the VW-owned carmaker’s UK business

Bentley is launching its first fully electric car – complete with a drum soundtrack to replace the growl of a combustion engine – as part of a £350m investment in its UK business.

The vehicle, an SUV called the Torcal, is Bentley’s cheapest, starting at £173,000, and will be built at its factory in Crewe, securing the jobs of the 4,000 workers there.

From Shropshire to Hamburg, depleting reserves and spiralling costs are spawning a continent-wide energy crisis

Bridgnorth Aluminium has faced down Brexit, Covid and repeated energy shocks in recent years. But this winter is bringing extra “stress and pressure”, says its head of sales, Adrian Musgrave.

Musgrave’s company makes rolled aluminium, used in packaging, construction and the manufacture of items such as cars and batteries. Like many stretched industrial businesses across Europe, Bridgnorth Aluminium faces a looming threat of soaring energy bills, which Musgrave describes as “just worry upon worry”.

Authorities and public bodies to be urged to buy goods and services from Europe, but without binding quotas

European authorities will be encouraged to buy more domestic goods and services when they spend public money under the EU latest effort to counter China’s economic might.

In a further “Buy European” plan, the European Commission published proposals on Wednesday for a sweeping overhaul of EU public procurement rules.

New roles at Woking-based manufacturer will include positions for indirect and agency workers

The British supercar manufacturer McLaren is to create 1,000 jobs in a welcome boost to the UK’s struggling automotive industry.

The carmaker is creating the jobs as part of a £450m investment in its technology centre in Woking, near to the plant where it manufactures all of its vehicles.

Firms warn of impact of company’s decision to to axe 4,000 jobs and call for government to support sector

• Jaguar Land Rover confirms plan to cut 4,000 jobs

David Roberts is not in an optimistic mood. The chair of Coventry-based Evtec may preside over a business with 900 highly skilled employees, multiple sites and precision machinery, but the outlook for the manufacturer appears tricky. “Everything is against us,” he says.

Evtec is a “tier 1” supplier to Jaguar Land Rover, also headquartered in Coventry, which this week announced 4,000 job cuts over two years even as the chancellor, John Healey, attempted to talk up Britain’s growth prospects in his first big speech, just down the road.

While the UK and Italy are making progress, France and Germany’s joint venture came to nothing, and the prospect of more countries pulling together seems way off

When the former European Central Bank president and Italian prime minister Mario Draghi laid out a plan for Europe to catch up economically with the US and China, collaborating on defence was one of the prescriptions. No more should each country in Europe try to make its own version of a boat, tank or jet but instead share costs and technologies between allies.

Europe appears to have fallen at the first hurdle. The German chancellor, Friedrich Merz, and the French president, Emmanuel Macron, were forced to cancel the joint future combat air system in June, after fraught efforts to work together since 2018.

Decision by carmaker, which is battling Trump tariffs and fallout from cyber-attack, labelled a ‘body blow for workers’

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Jaguar Land Rover has announced thousands of job cuts in a “body blow for workers” as it grapples with tough trading conditions, Donald Trump’s tariff wars and the fallout from a cyber-attack.

Britain’s largest carmaker, which is owned by the Indian conglomerate Tata, confirmed the anticipated cuts on Monday, saying it wants to reduce its global workforce by about 4,000 over two years, as part of an effort to save £1.7bn.

Protest using 10 coffins to symbolise struggling manufacturing industry to take place in Brussels

Job losses in EU manufacturing will rapidly increase unless Brussels stops the “colonisation” of industry by Chinese component manufacturers, a leading industry trade body has warned.

Eurometal predicts 300,000 job losses in manufacturing in the rest of 2026 because of expanding competition from China, which is now enjoying a record €1bn-a-day trade surplus with the bloc.

Under-pressure carmaker will shed 15% of workforce and halve its product line in sector’s biggest ever restructure

The car company Volkswagen has approved controversial plans to shed 100,000 jobs in a battle for survival as it faces fierce competition from Chinese rivals.

After the latest round of talks this week, the company announced a further 50,000 job cuts and agreed a staggered end to current production at four German plants: Emden, Zwickau, Hanover and the Audi site in Neckarsulm between 2031 to 2034. There are no specific plans beyond that.