Audi will build its first American factory near Macon, Georgia, a plant worth about $4 billion that President Trump says his tariffs helped bring here.
Story Highlights
- President Trump announced the Audi plant on Saturday, October 24, at a campaign rally in Perry, Georgia, with Audi’s chief executive on stage.
- Georgia officials say the plant will bring about 4,500 new jobs to Middle Georgia.
- Trump put the deal at $4.2 billion and called it “the single largest investment in U.S. auto industry history, modern history.” The state puts it at about $4 billion.
- The plant is set to build 200,000 premium SUVs a year once it reaches full production in 2031.
- Trump said Audi would not have come without his tariffs. Audi calls it a long-term bet on the American market.
- Reports say Audi took a hit of about 1.2 billion euros, roughly $1.38 billion, from U.S. tariffs last year.
- Audi Chief Executive Gernot Döllner joined Trump on stage and said, “We are planning to bring our biggest and most premium SUVs, and produce them here in Macon, Georgia.”
Audi Picks Georgia for Its First U.S. Plant
Audi, the German luxury carmaker owned by Volkswagen Group, has never built cars in the United States. It ships every car it sells here from Europe and Mexico, so tariffs, the taxes on imported goods, hit it hard. Reports say the company took a hit of about 1.2 billion euros, roughly $1.38 billion, from tariffs last year. Trump told the crowd that Audi would not have come to America without his tariff policy. He said Audi “committed to invest $4.2 billion” in nearby Macon to build “a massive plant that will produce 200,000 cars a year.”
Georgia’s economic development office confirmed the deal the same day. It says Audi plans to invest about $4 billion and create about 4,500 jobs at the Middle Georgia Megasite. A megasite is a large tract of land that a state buys and prepares ahead of time to win a big factory. This one sits in Peach County, on the eastern edge of Fort Valley, about five miles west of Interstate 75. Gov. Brian Kemp said, “We are proud that Audi has selected Georgia as the home of their first U.S. manufacturing facility.”
Audi’s CEO Promises Its Biggest SUVs
Audi Chief Executive Gernot Döllner joined Trump on stage, along with Vito Paladino, president of Audi’s North American business. “We are planning to bring our biggest and most premium SUVs, and produce them here in Macon, Georgia,” Döllner said. He called it “a long-term investment because we believe in the American market.” Reports based on a U.S. official name the Q7, Q8 and Q9 as the models expected to be built there. Audi’s own statement says only that the plant will build premium SUVs made for North American buyers.
Audi says it chose Georgia for its workforce, its access to buyers and its nearby auto parts suppliers. The ports of Savannah and Brunswick are under five hours away by rail. Trump also credited Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick with helping land the deal.
The Timeline and the Numbers
Trump said construction could start as early as November. The state’s written schedule says Audi expects to begin grading the land in 2027, start building the factory in 2028 and reach full production in 2031. The plant would then turn out 200,000 vehicles a year. Trump’s figure for the deal is $4.2 billion, and the state’s figure is about $4 billion.
Georgia has been preparing for a deal like this for years. The state bought about 1,100 acres for the megasite in 2022, and Bibb, Houston and Peach counties each pledged $7 million to market and improve it. The state’s Quick Start program will build a training center and design job training for Audi workers. Audi’s parent company is also building a separate plant for its Scout Motors brand in South Carolina.
A Win for American Workers
For conservatives who spent years watching factory jobs move overseas, a foreign automaker putting billions into rural Georgia is a result you can see. About 4,500 jobs in Middle Georgia means real paychecks for American families. Trump made the announcement on the campaign trail ahead of the Tuesday, November 3 midterm elections, when voters choose members of Congress and many state leaders, and he pointed to it as proof that pressure on foreign makers works.
Audi, for its part, frames the plant as a long-term plan to serve American buyers directly. Either way, the outcome is the same: a major foreign carmaker is betting billions of dollars on American soil. Full output is set for 2031, and the groundwork for a new chapter in Georgia manufacturing has begun.
Sources:
foxbusiness.com, cnbc.com, ajc.com, en.sedaily.com, chosun.com, georgia.org