Catenaa, Sunday, October 25, 2026- President Donald Trump announced on Saturday that German carmaker Audi plans to build a $4 billion assembly plant in Georgia.
According to Reuters, the plant will produce 200,000 SUVs annually, with production expected to start in early 2030, and will create about 4,500 jobs in the US.
Audi’s decision follows growing financial pressure from US import tariffs. The company incurred approximately $1.4 billion in tariff-related costs in 2025, according to Reuters, highlighting the challenges of supplying American customers entirely through overseas manufacturing.
A Reuters report said Georgia has competitive races for the US Senate and governor, and Trump is eager to argue that his auto tariffs are helping the US economy.
“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, according to Reuters. “This is a long-term investment because we believe in the American market.”
Audi’s proposed US expansion comes as parent company Volkswagen faces difficult negotiations over employment and manufacturing capacity in Germany. Rising production expenses and competition from Asian automakers have intensified concerns about possible factory closures and job reductions.
“It is right and necessary to better tap into the US market via a new plant,” Christiane Benner, Head of the IG Metall union and Volkswagen’s deputy supervisory board chair, told Reuters.
“However, firm prospects for workers at all sites, particularly those here in Germany, must be clearly defined and set out.”
She said Volkswagen’s supervisory board would have to make a final decision on the investment.
Olaf Lies, Lower Saxony’s state premier and Volkswagen’s second-largest shareholder, told Reuters that expanded production in the US would also benefit German workers.
“Growth in America must secure jobs and value creation here and must not displace them,” he said.
The plant is expected to assemble the Audi Q7, Q8 and Q9 SUVs, a US official told Reuters.
Audi also plans to build 25,000 vehicles a year in neighbouring South Carolina, according to Reuters, as the official said, while some vehicles now built in Europe would be exported.
Reuters reported, citing the official, that VW’s off-road brand Scout Motors will assemble those vehicles at a $2 billion plant under construction in Blythewood, near the state capital, Columbia.
