US President Donald Trump announced on Saturday that German luxury carmaker Audi plans to build a $4 billion assembly plant in Georgia. The factory is expected to produce 200,000 sport utility vehicles (SUVs) every year.
Trump announced the investment at a rally in Perry, near Macon in central Georgia. He is trying to convince Americans to support Republicans in the November midterm elections. Georgia has competitive races for the US Senate and governor.
Trump has cut government incentives for electric vehicles, contributing to a significant reduction in EV and battery production in the United States. The company’s position highlights how trade policy can influence decisions about where automakers manufacture their vehicles. Employment in the US vehicle and auto-parts industries has also fallen since he took office in January 2025, according to Reuters. South Korea’s Hyundai said last year that certainty over the USMCA trade agreement would allow it to unlock more than $20 billion in new US investments immediately.
Audi said the planned investment is expected to create approximately 4,500 jobs. Last year, Trump’s tariffs cost the company around 1.2 billion euros, or $1.4 billion. Construction is scheduled to begin next year, while vehicle production is expected to start in the early 2030s, as reported by Reuters.
Because audi believes in the American market, he described the proposed factory as a long-term investment. These vehicles are part of Audi’s premium SUV range. Trump has pressured foreign carmakers to move production to the United States. He has also imposed tariffs on imported vehicles, steel, aluminium and car parts. Audi imports all the vehicles it sells in the United States from Europe or Mexico.
Audi CEO Gernot Doellner said the company plans to bring its biggest and most premium SUVs to the US and manufacture them in Macon, Georgia. The planned Georgia plant is expected to assemble Audi’s Q7, Q8 and Q9 SUVs, according to a US official who spoke to Reuters. Republican US Senator Bernie Moreno said Audi’s investment would not have happened without tariffs, what he described as common-sense regulations, and the removal of California’s ability to set its own fuel-economy standards. The planned US factory could help Audi increase local production as it faces these trade costs, according to Reuters.
