Autoland confirmed Lindner’s new role on Wednesday, saying he “will be responsible for marketing, sales, and digitalization.”
Lindner served as finance minister in the troubled, three-party coalition government of previous Chancellor Olaf Scholz. Persistent conflicts over spending between Lindner’s fiscally conservative FDP and his left-leaning coalition partners led to the premature collapse of that government in late 2024, prompting an early federal election in February.
During his time in office, Lindner pushed back against the EU’s planned phaseout of the combustion engine and was seen as close to the auto industry. In 2022, he was embroiled in a scandal over a text-message exchange with Porsche CEO Oliver Blume in which Lindner asked for “support with my arguments.”
In the federal election earlier this year, Lindner’s FDP failed to reach the 5 percent threshold required for a party to make it into the Bundestag. He then stepped down as leader of the party, marking a stunning downfall for a politician once deemed by his peers to be a wunderkind of European fiscal conservatism.
Under German law, former members of government have to report new private sector jobs for 18 months after leaving office. In cases involving potential conflicts of interest, the current government can disallow former officials from taking a job.
German media poked fun at the former finance minister over his new job.
“Christian Lindner joins the ranks of used car dealers,” ran the headline of a Spiegel article.