Audi POLITICAL

Corporate Communications & Public Stance

Audi was reported as one of 106 signatories to a 22 October 2023 full-page German newspaper advertisement headed “Nie wieder ist jetzt” / “Never again is now.”^{1, 2}

Contemporaneous reporting describes the advertisement as condemning Hamas’s 7 October attack on Israel, acknowledging civilian suffering in Israel and Gaza, opposing hatred and antisemitism, and calling for solidarity with Jewish colleagues and citizens in Germany.^{1, 2}

Stuttgarter Zeitung reported that the advertisement was scheduled for Bild am Sonntag and Welt am Sonntag, reproduced its reported text, and named Audi among the signatory companies.¹ The reported wording and Audi’s signatory status remain supported by contemporaneous secondary reporting, but no original Springer advertisement scan, first-party publisher archive, Audi-hosted version, signatory submission, or record establishing Audi’s internal signatory capacity was retrieved.^{1, 2} Audi’s participation therefore remains supported by secondary reporting rather than a primary advertisement record.^{1, 2}

The retrieved reports do not establish an end date, continuing programme, or post-2023 renewal for the advertisement; the available record presents it as a one-off public advertisement with no continuing arrangement identified.^{1, 2}

Volkswagen Group’s ADL relationship began in 2019, enabled an ADL office in Berlin, included employee training on antisemitism, extremism, discrimination and unconscious bias, and was announced on 13 June 2022 for a further three years.^{3, 4}

Volkswagen Group’s and ADL’s 2022 releases corroborate the relationship and intended extension, but neither publishes a signed agreement, signature page, financial terms, or confirmation of continuation after the stated term, which would have ended approximately in June 2025.^{3, 4}

No public evidence identified confirming a primary record of renewal, termination, amendment, funding, or operational continuation of the Volkswagen Group–ADL partnership after approximately June 2025; its post-term status remains unknown.^{3, 4, 5} Volkswagen’s live partnerships page displayed 2024–26 partnership material but did not display ADL in the retrieved content; because it does not state that it is a complete register, that omission does not establish that the relationship ended.⁵

The 2022 releases name Volkswagen Group, not Audi AG or Volkswagen Group North America, as a partnership party; Audi AG and Volkswagen Group North America are therefore not established here as ADL contracting parties.^{3, 4, 6}

A 2019 report stated that Volkswagen funded the Berlin ADL office for an initial three years at a “low seven figures,” with a possible continuation option; Volkswagen’s and ADL’s later releases corroborate the relationship and extension but do not confirm that amount.^{3, 4, 7}

Volkswagen AG announced a US$1 million ADL donation in 2011 for diversity-education, anti-bigotry, campus, educator, school, community and workplace-inclusion programming; the announcement does not identify Israel–Palestine programming, military support, settlement activity, or a continuing commitment.⁸

Volkswagen’s 2025 annual-report disclosure states that Group political influence is centrally managed through a “one voice policy” and describes requirements for controlled companies, but it does not identify an Israel–Palestine position or an Audi-specific conflict communication.⁹

No public evidence identified in the reviewed official Audi materials and targeted searches of an Audi-hosted statement concerning Gaza, Palestinian civilian harm, settlements, boycotts, or other Israel–Palestine conflict issues.^{10, 11, 1, 2}

No Volkswagen Group North America corporate statement or partnership record concerning Israel–Palestine was retrieved in the reviewed materials.^{3, 4, 12, 13}

Secondary reporting attributed an October 2023 LinkedIn post to then Volkswagen Group of America President and CEO Pablo Di Si that described the attacks on Israel as shocking, referred to people in Israel and affected colleagues’ families, and said Israel operations had not been affected.^{12, 13} The post was not retrievable from an official archive or authenticated capture, so its full text, original timestamp, signatory capacity and current availability remain unverified; it is not evidence of an Audi AG corporate signature or statement.^{12, 13}

Volkswagen Group’s 2022 ADL release also expressed concern about Russia’s war against Ukraine and its effect on the rules-based order; this was a Volkswagen Group communication, not an Audi AG statement.³

Operations in Occupied or Contested Territories

Volkswagen Group stated in 2018 that Champion Motors, wholly owned by Allied Group, had represented Volkswagen Group in Israel since 1965 as direct importer and distributor for Audi and other Volkswagen Group brands.¹⁴

Champion Motors’ current materials describe it as importer of Audi and other Volkswagen Group brands in Israel, and Audi’s contact page identifies Champion Motors (Israel) Ltd. as its Israel contact organisation and lists an Israel spokesperson.^{11, 15} The retrieved materials do not disclose the current contractual terms, importer licence, territorial schedule, or scope of the Champion Motors relationship.^{11, 14, 15}

Volkswagen Palestine’s live imprint identifies United Motor Trade Company (UMT), based in Nablus, as an authorised Audi dealer.¹⁶ The page, carrying “© Volkswagen 2026,” lists Audi sales centres in Nablus, Ramallah, Bethlehem, Hebron and Tulkarm, two Gaza branches, and maintenance or after-sales centres including Jerusalem, Ramallah, Hebron and Bethlehem.¹⁶

The page does not provide street addresses for the listed outlets or establish the precise status of the two Gaza branches.¹⁶ The reviewed source does not specify whether UMT’s listed Jerusalem facility is in East or West Jerusalem, so it should not be characterised as an occupied-territory site without address-level verification.¹⁶

UMT’s announcement described the company as an authorised dealer for Audi and other Volkswagen Group brands and referred to operations and expansion in the West Bank, including Nablus, Ramallah and Hebron.¹⁷ The live Volkswagen Palestine imprint presents the UMT relationship as ongoing, but no current dealer agreement was retrieved.^{16, 17}

No public evidence identified of an Audi-branded dealer, service centre, contract or subsidiary in an Israeli settlement in the West Bank, East Jerusalem or the Golan Heights.^{11, 16, 17} This qualified result does not resolve the address of UMT’s Jerusalem facility.¹⁶

No primary Israeli Ministry of Defense, Israel Police, military end-user or procurement record involving Audi-branded vehicles was retrieved.^{11, 14, 16}

In October 2018, Volkswagen Group, Mobileye and Champion Motors announced “New Mobility in Israel,” a planned autonomous electric ride-hailing joint venture.¹⁴ Volkswagen Group stated that it would provide electric vehicles, Champion Motors would operate the fleet and control centre, and Mobileye would provide autonomous-driving hardware, software and mapping data.¹⁴ The same release stated that the Israeli government had formally accepted the proposal at the 2018 Smart Mobility Summit and would provide legal and regulatory support, infrastructure, traffic data and access to infrastructure as needed.¹⁴

Volkswagen Group’s first-quarter 2024 report states that it and Mobileye Vision Technologies agreed in March 2024 to intensify their long-standing automated-driving cooperation, including Level-4-enabled passenger and goods vehicles and driver-assistance functions for multiple Group brands.¹⁸ That report does not mention “New Mobility in Israel,” Champion Motors, a fleet, or deployment in Israel; it therefore does not verify continuation of the 2018 project.¹⁸

No primary source retrieved establishes whether the 2018 New Mobility project reached its projected 2022 commercialisation, was terminated, or remains active, including after July 2024.^{14, 18}

Reuters, Handelsblatt, and Globes reported on 24–25 March 2026 that Volkswagen AG was in talks with Israeli state-owned Rafael Advanced Defense Systems about possible production at Volkswagen’s Osnabrück plant of components for Iron Dome-related systems.^{19, 20, 21} Reuters stated that it could not independently verify the reported discussion and that Volkswagen, Rafael and the German Defence Ministry did not then comment.¹⁹

Handelsblatt reported that a Volkswagen spokesperson said the company was examining viable prospects for Osnabrück after current vehicle production ends in 2027 and that weapons production by Volkswagen AG was excluded.²⁰ The reporting describes a possible arrangement as unresolved and does not identify Audi AG, an Audi site, Audi products, Audi personnel, an executed contract, actual production, or an Audi financial contribution.^{19, 20, 21}

Internal Governance, Content & Retail Policies

Audi’s legal notice identifies AUDI AG as a German stock corporation headquartered at Auto-Union-Str. 1, 85057 Ingolstadt, registered at Ingolstadt Local Court under HR B 1.¹⁰

Audi’s current governance disclosure states that Volkswagen AG is AUDI AG’s sole shareholder.⁶ Volkswagen’s 2025 annual report identifies Volkswagen AG as the Volkswagen Group parent company and states that it holds direct or indirect interests in AUDI AG.²²

Volkswagen Group stated in February 2020 that Volkswagen AG held approximately 99.64% of Audi AG’s subscribed capital and intended to squeeze out the remaining free float; Audi’s current sole-shareholder disclosure resolves the earlier ownership-status gap, although no retrieved source states the transaction-completion date or a numerical current percentage.^{23, 6}

Audi’s 2021 report stated that Volkswagen AG was Audi AG’s sole shareholder at that time and that Audi’s Supervisory Board comprised ten shareholder and ten employee representatives.²⁴ Audi’s current governance disclosure likewise states that its Supervisory Board has ten shareholder and ten employee representatives, with shareholder representatives elected by the Annual General Meeting and employee representatives elected by employees of Audi Group German operations.⁶

Audi’s financial-publications page currently provides downloads for its 2025 Audi Report, 2025 Fact Pack and 2026 quarterly Fact Packs.²⁵ Audi’s 2025 report states that material consolidated companies are listed in an Audi Fact Pack, but that Fact Pack was not retrieved; a complete current Audi legal-entity schedule is therefore not verified here.^{26, 25}

Audi’s live production-site page, dated 24 August 2026, identifies Audi Sport GmbH, Bentley Motors Ltd., Automobili Lamborghini S.p.A. and Ducati Motor Holding S.p.A. as wholly owned AUDI AG subsidiaries.²⁷ It states that Audi, Bentley, Lamborghini and Ducati produce at 21 locations in 12 countries and that Audi and its partners are present in more than 100 markets.^{27, 26}

Volkswagen’s 2025 consolidation note identifies Audi Berlin GmbH, Audi Frankfurt GmbH, Audi Hamburg GmbH, Audi Hannover GmbH, Audi Leipzig GmbH, Audi Sport GmbH and Audi Stuttgart GmbH among German consolidated subsidiaries using German-law publication exemptions, but does not identify the direct parent of each named company.²⁸

Audi Formula Racing GmbH is identified in Audi’s Formula 1 legal notice as a Neuburg an der Donau-based German GmbH registered under HRB 10855, with Christian Foyer and Stefan Dreyer as managing directors.²⁹ That legal notice does not state Audi Formula Racing GmbH’s share ownership, so its parent-subsidiary status is not established here.²⁹ Audi’s October 2025 Döllner biography separately states that he chairs Audi Motorsport AG, acquired for Audi’s planned 2026 Formula 1 entry; the reviewed materials do not establish whether Audi Motorsport AG and Audi Formula Racing GmbH are related entities.^{21, 29}

The reviewed materials do not identify an Audi-specific retail, dealer, content or customer-policy provision addressing settlements, military end users, Israel–Palestine advocacy or conflict-related commercial screening.^{10, 30, 16, 6, 26}

Brand Heritage & State Partnerships

A Volkswagen historical publication states that Volkswagen AG supported social and charitable projects in Israel in 1992–93 for elderly Nazi victims, with assistance distributed through the Jewish Claims Conference to named institutions, and that Givat Haviva received support for work described as promoting equality and understanding between Jews and Arabs.³¹ That historical Volkswagen record is not evidence of an Audi AG contribution, military-welfare donation, settlement donation or current programme.³¹

Volkswagen Group announced a €150,000 donation on 7 August 2025 to the International Auschwitz Committee and International Youth Meeting Center in Oświęcim, Poland; the recipients and stated purposes were outside Israel and Palestine.³²

Volkswagen Group and other named organisations issued a January 2021 statement against antisemitism and racism, which is group-level contextual material rather than an Audi-specific Israel–Palestine position.³³

Volkswagen Group’s 2025 annual-report webpage reports €73.7 million in group-wide donations in 2025 and describes an annual internal project questionnaire covering brands and regions.³⁴ The retrieved disclosure does not identify Audi, Israel, Palestine, recipient organisations, or conflict-related assistance, and therefore does not establish an Israel–Palestine donation or an Audi-related humanitarian programme.³⁴

Audi’s 2019 annual-report material describes its corporate purpose as the development, production and sale of motor vehicles, other vehicles, engines, accessories, machinery, tools and other technical articles.³⁵ No reviewed current corporate disclosure identifies an express Audi corporate purpose tied to Israeli, Palestinian or another state’s geopolitical objectives.^{10, 6, 26, 36}

No current Audi articles of association or commercial-register extract was retrieved to confirm the present corporate-purpose wording.^{10, 6, 26, 36}

Lobbying, Advocacy, Financing & Logistics

Audi’s German Bundestag Lobby Register entry, last changed and annually updated on 25 June 2026, records lobbying on automotive, transport, trade, industrial, human-rights and international-relations matters and reports €420,001–€430,000 in lobbying expenditure for 2025.³⁷ The entry lists 17 concrete regulatory initiatives; full-text checks of that entry returned no occurrences of “Israel” or “Palästina.”³⁷ This is record-scoped and does not establish the absence of activity outside the register.³⁷

Audi’s Lobby Register record identifies Gernot Döllner and six other Audi Board of Management members as legally authorised representatives and describes Audi’s lobbying as conducted solely in its own interest.³⁷ Its disclosed policy files include PFAS regulation, charging infrastructure, patents, vehicle end-of-life regulation and transport policy; no Israel–Palestine-specific lobbying file was identified in that record.³⁷

Volkswagen’s 2025 annual report identifies Audi AG as registered in the German Bundestag Lobby Register alongside Volkswagen AG and other Group companies, states that Group lobbying is centrally organised, and says donations and sponsorship require authorisation.⁹ That disclosure names no Israeli, Palestinian, settlement, military, military-welfare or advocacy recipient.⁹

No public primary evidence identified in the completed targeted searches of Audi AG, Volkswagen AG or Champion Motors donations to the IDF, FIDF, JNF/KKL, settlement organisations, military-welfare bodies, Israeli political organisations, or conflict-period asset mobilisation.^{11, 14, 34, 37, 9} This finding is limited to the reviewed source classes and is not a conclusive audit of all Israeli charitable filings, private records or other unreviewed registers.^{11, 14, 34, 37, 9}

No public record was identified establishing that Champion Motors held an Israeli state honour or donated to military-welfare, settlement, political or advocacy organisations while acting as Audi’s authorised distributor.^{11, 14} The result is qualified and source-class-limited rather than a conclusive absence determination.^{11, 14}

An Open Budget/Public Knowledge Workshop aggregation surfaced purported Israeli-government transactions with Champion Motors, including general government vehicle orders, Knesset vehicle maintenance and prison-service vehicle-system work, but it explicitly calls for verification against the relevant government source.²⁵ No underlying procurement record was retrieved, and the aggregation does not identify Audi-branded vehicles, the Israel Defense Forces, settlement entities, political organisations or military-welfare recipients; it is therefore not treated as verified primary evidence.²⁵

No public evidence identified in the reviewed materials of Audi sponsorship of settlement events, donations to settlement entities, or public endorsement of the settlement enterprise.^{11, 16, 17, 38}

Volkswagen AG identifies itself as Volkswagen Group’s parent and states that it holds direct or indirect interests in AUDI AG and TRATON SE.²² AFSC Investigate stated, as of 2 May 2023, that Volkswagen subsidiary TRATON supplied MAN vehicles to Israel that were converted into the “Skunk” crowd-control system and that MAN buses were used by Egged.^{39, 40} That AFSC material is a civil-society finding concerning Volkswagen/TRATON and MAN, not evidence identifying Audi AG, Audi vehicles or Audi executives as suppliers.^{39, 40}

Who Profits reported that Egged Taavura operated West Bank settlement bus routes, but its page states that Egged presently used Mercedes and Volvo vehicles; it therefore does not independently substantiate AFSC’s MAN-bus assertion.⁴¹ No primary procurement record, manufacturer record, conversion contract or current fleet record was retrieved to independently verify the AFSC account.^{39, 40, 41}

The supplied document-scoped checks found no Audi mention in UN Special Rapporteur report A/HRC/59/23 and specified local OHCHR, Al-Haq, Amnesty, Human Rights Watch, BDS, PAX and BankTrack materials; these are report-scoped no-hit results, not database-wide or group-wide clearance findings.³⁸

No public primary evidence was retrieved of Audi or Volkswagen AG lobbying, political spending, anti-BDS activity, IDF/FIDF/JNF funding, settlement-event sponsorship, settlement-entity donation, or conflict-period asset mobilisation within the completed searches and source classes.^{39, 40, 41, 38, 37, 9}

Corporate Structure & Primary Mission

Audi’s legal notice names Manfred Döss as Chair of the Supervisory Board and Gernot Döllner as Chair of the Board of Management.¹⁰ Audi’s live governance page lists Döllner, Dieter Dehoorne, Rouven Mohr, Jürgen Rittersberger, Xavier Ros, Marco Schubert and Gerd Walker on the Board of Management, with responsibilities spanning procurement, technical development, finance, legal, IT, human resources, sales, marketing, production and logistics.^{42, 36}

Audi states that Döllner became Chair of its Board of Management on 1 September 2023 and was confirmed for a further five-year term in autumn 2025.⁴³ Audi also identifies Döllner as a Volkswagen Group Board of Management member leading the Progressive brand group.^{43, 22}

Audi’s 2025 report describes the Audi Group as equivalent to the Progressive brand group, comprising the Audi, Bentley, Lamborghini and Ducati brands.²⁶ Volkswagen Group likewise identifies Audi, Lamborghini, Bentley and Ducati as the Progressive brand group and states that its core automotive brands, apart from Volkswagen Passenger Cars and Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles, are independent legal entities.²²

Volkswagen AG’s shareholder-structure disclosure, as at 31 December 2025, reports voting rights of 53.3% for Porsche Automobil Holding SE, 20.0% for the State of Lower Saxony, 17.0% for Qatar Holding LLC and 9.7% free float.⁴⁴ Volkswagen’s related-party disclosure states that Porsche SE held the majority of Volkswagen AG voting rights at 31 December 2025 and had power to participate in Volkswagen Group operating-policy decisions.⁴⁵

The same disclosure states that Lower Saxony and HanBG held 20.00% of Volkswagen voting rights, that Lower Saxony has the right to appoint two Volkswagen AG Supervisory Board members, and that Porsche SE cannot elect all shareholder representatives while Lower Saxony holds at least 15% of ordinary shares.⁴⁵

Porsche SE states that its ordinary shares are indirectly held exclusively by Porsche and Piëch family members, while its March 2025 statutory voting-rights notice records an attribution chain concerning 100% of Porsche SE voting rights that includes Wolfgang Porsche, Ferdinand Oliver Porsche and Hans Michel Piëch’s family vehicle HMP Vermögensverwaltung GmbH.^{15, 46} These records establish family-level ownership and control attribution, not individual ownership percentages or Israel–Palestine-related conduct.^{15, 46}

Mohammed Saif Al-Sowaidi, CEO of the Qatar Investment Authority since November 2024, joined Volkswagen AG’s Supervisory Board on 16 May 2025, replacing former QIA CEO Mansoor Ebrahim Al-Mahmoud.^{47, 48} Lower Saxony appointed Olaf Lies, its Minister-President, to Volkswagen AG’s Supervisory Board effective 20 May 2025, replacing Stephan Weil.⁴⁸

No political, military-welfare, settlement or anti-BDS conduct is attributable to Audi merely from these ownership and governance relationships.^{44, 45, 47, 48, 15, 46}

Executive & Leadership Footprint

Audi’s live governance page identifies Manfred Döss as Supervisory Board Chair and lists shareholder-side members including Josef Ahorner, Marianne Heiß, Julia Kuhn-Piëch, Hans Michel Piëch, Hans Dieter Pötsch, Ferdinand Oliver Porsche, Wolfgang Porsche and Hauke Stars, together with one unfilled or unnamed shareholder-side position.^{42, 36} Audi’s governance disclosure identifies Julia Kuhn-Piëch, Hans Michel Piëch, Ferdinand Oliver Porsche and Wolfgang Porsche as shareholder-side members and describes cross-directorships involving Porsche SE, Porsche AG and/or Volkswagen AG.⁴²

Audi’s current management page identifies Hans Michel Piëch and Wolfgang Porsche as members of the Presiding and Negotiating Committees and Hans Dieter Pötsch as chair of the Audit Committee, whose members include Ferdinand Oliver Porsche and Hauke Stars.³⁶ Volkswagen Group’s executive-bodies page identifies Hans Michel Piëch as an Audi AG Supervisory Board member and, since 2016, a member of its Executive Committee, and identifies Ferdinand Oliver Porsche and Wolfgang Porsche as Audi Supervisory Board members.⁴⁷

Volkswagen’s 2025 report records that Marianne Heiß left the Volkswagen AG Supervisory Board on 4 July 2025, but that event does not itself establish a change in Audi’s board membership.⁴⁸

Volkswagen’s 2021 governance disclosure stated that Hans Michel Piëch, Ferdinand Oliver Porsche and Wolfgang Porsche, together with other family shareholders, were indirect controlling shareholders of Porsche SE, and identified Hussain Ali Al Abdulla as Qatar Holding LLC’s representative on Volkswagen governance structures at that time.⁴⁹

Porsche SE’s 2025 directors’-dealings notice records Wolfgang Porsche’s purchase of Porsche SE shares on 3 April 2025 and contains no Israel–Palestine, charity, lobbying, military-welfare, settlement or anti-BDS information.⁵⁰

For Gernot Döllner, Manfred Döss, Wolfgang Porsche, Ferdinand Oliver Porsche, Julia Kuhn-Piëch, Hans Michel Piëch and Hans Dieter Pötsch, no primary political-contribution record, charity or foundation grant schedule, lobbying filing, board or advocacy role, investment disclosure, event programme, public statement, or authenticated social-media record was identified in the completed 2018-onward searches that corroborates Israel–Palestine advocacy, anti-BDS activity, IDF/FIDF/JNF or other military-welfare support, or settlement-organisation support.^{42, 43, 36, 50}

No primary public record was identified in the completed research attributing to Porsche SE, Qatar Holding, their identified Volkswagen representatives, or the named Porsche/Piëch representatives an Audi/Volkswagen-linked donation, grant, lobbying act, Israel–Palestine public statement, military-welfare support, settlement-organisation support or anti-BDS activity.^{44, 45, 47, 48, 49}

These principal-level results are not conclusive because the completed work did not retrieve complete German and Austrian political-donation disclosures, foundation registries, family-office or corporate reports, U.S. Form 990/990-PF filings, lobbying registers, event archives, or authenticated social-media archives for every named individual.^{42, 43, 36} No principal-linked foundation was located in the completed searches, so no related Form 990 or 990-PF grant schedule was available for review.^{42, 43, 36}

Targeted searches across available sovereign-investment, parliamentary, charity, foundation, lobbying and official-social-media sources for the identified Porsche SE, Qatar Holding and Lower Saxony representatives returned no additional attributable conduct.^{44, 45, 47, 48, 49} The result remains non-conclusive because complete private records and authenticated archives for every relevant representative were not publicly available.