Audi Build Factory Georgia: $4B Plant to Make 200,000 SUVs
President Donald Trump says Audi plans to invest $4 billion in an assembly plant in Georgia that could produce 200,000 SUVs a year. Audi says the project is…
A $4 billion Audi build factory Georgia plan would bring production of 200,000 SUVs a year to the United States, President Donald Trump announced Saturday at a rally in Perry. Audi says the investment is expected to create approximately 4,500 jobs, with construction scheduled to begin next year and production starting in the early 2030s.
The project would give Audi its first U.S. assembly plant as tariffs and weakening sales weigh on the automaker. The company currently imports all vehicles it sells in the U.S. from Europe or Mexico, according to the report.
Tariffs frame the announcement
Trump made the announcement in central Georgia, near Macon, while seeking support for Republicans ahead of the Nov. 3 midterm elections. He has pressed automakers to move production to the United States and raised tariffs on autos, steel, aluminum and parts.
The effect on Audi has already been costly. Last year, Trump’s tariffs dealt the company a 1.2 billion euro ($1.4 billion) blow, the report said. The announcement also lands amid a broader dispute over whether tariffs are bringing manufacturing investment home or making vehicles more expensive.
Critics say the measures have pushed up vehicle prices and trade uncertainty has delayed some automaker investments. Trump, meanwhile, has argued that auto tariffs help the U.S. economy. The competing claims give the Georgia project significance beyond the jobs and factory floor: it is a prominent test of whether tariffs can persuade carmakers to build where they sell.
“We are planning to bring our biggest and most premium SUVs, and produce them here in Macon, Georgia,” Audi CEO Gernot Doellner said at the event. “This is a long-term investment because we believe in the American market.”
New production as sales slide
Audi’s U.S. business has faced pressure. Its sales fell for two consecutive years and slid 7% in the first half of 2026, with competition in China and U.S. tariffs weighing on demand. U.S. sales are down 16% this year, according to the report.
A U.S. official told Reuters the Georgia plant is expected to assemble the Audi Q7, Q8 and Q9 SUVs. Audi also plans to build 25,000 vehicles a year in neighboring South Carolina, the official said. Some vehicles now produced in Europe would be exported from there.
Volkswagen will assemble those South Carolina vehicles at a $2 billion plant for its off-road brand, Scout Motors, under construction in Blythewood, near Columbia, the official said. That project is separate from the planned Audi facility in Georgia.
The factory announcement arrives as vehicle and parts manufacturing employment in the United States has fallen since Trump took office last year. The report also says government incentives for electric vehicles have been cut, significantly reducing U.S. EV and battery production.
U.S. Senator Bernie Moreno, an Ohio Republican, said the Audi investment would not have happened without tariffs, common-sense regulations and the elimination of California’s ability to regulate fuel economy standards. Audi’s announcement sets a long timetable: construction is scheduled to begin next year, while production is not expected to start until the early 2030s.
Source: cnbc.com
