Photo: Alexander-93, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
President Donald Trump announced on Saturday that Audi will build its first factory in the United States in Georgia, a $4.2 billion plant near Macon that the German luxury brand says will produce its biggest and most premium SUVs. Trump unveiled the deal at a midterm campaign rally in Perry, Georgia, joined on stage by Audi chief executive Gernot Döllner, as Republicans look for good economic news in a battleground state days before the November 3 midterm elections.
Trump said the plant will produce 200,000 cars a year, and said construction will begin next month. He called the commitment the biggest single investment in US auto industry history and credited his aggressive tariff policies for the company's decision to build in America. "Think of that. 200,000 cars a year. That's incredible," Trump said. He also pointed to what he described as $40 billion in broader auto industry investment that he said would create 30,000 jobs.
The Georgia plant is the latest move by a global automaker to concentrate on American buyers as sales fall off elsewhere in the world and tariffs raise the cost of importing finished vehicles into the United States.
What Audi is actually planning
Audi's own announcement tells a slower story than the president's. In a news release, the company said construction is scheduled to begin in 2027, with production slated to start in the early 2030s, and that the plant — its first in Georgia — will create approximately 4,500 jobs. The company said Georgia was chosen because it "combines an investment-ready site, skilled workforce, established automotive supplier network and strong logistics infrastructure," and that the plant will be designed around Audi's future manufacturing requirements.
Döllner told the rally crowd the plant would be producing "our biggest and most premium SUVs," adding: "This is a long-term investment, because we believe in the American market." Audi, the luxury brand owned by Volkswagen, is currently the only German auto brand without a US factory. Its corporate cousin Volkswagen and its direct rivals BMW and Mercedes-Benz all produce vehicles in factories across the South, in some cases for global export. A move to build Audi vehicles in the United States has been under consideration for at least two decades.
A battleground announcement
The timing and the venue were political as much as industrial. Georgia is one of the most closely watched states in the midterms: Democratic Senator Jon Ossoff is defending his seat against Republican Representative Mike Collins, who is trying to unseat him, while Republican billionaire Rick Jackson is locked in a tight race for governor against former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, a Democrat. Jackson appeared at the rally and thanked Trump "on behalf of Georgia for putting the biggest economic deal in Georgia history right here today."
Republicans are bracing for losses on November 3 as they contend with an unpopular president and an electorate angry over high costs and the ongoing war in Iran. Trump has spent October campaigning in reliably Republican states as the party tries to hold its majorities in the House and Senate, and Trump won Georgia in 2024 after losing it in 2020. A headline investment hands his candidates a tangible jobs story for the final days of the campaign — even if, on Audi's own timetable, the first SUVs will not roll out of Macon until the early 2030s.
Sources: AP, Wall Street Journal