Audi to Build $4 Billion Georgia Plant Producing 200,000 SUVs a Year

President Donald Trump announced on October 24 that Audi plans to build a $4 billion assembly plant in Georgia that will produce 200,000 SUVs annually, Reuters reported from a rally in Perry, near Macon in central Georgia. Audi CEO Gernot Doellner appeared at the event and confirmed the plan: "We are planning to bring our biggest and most premium SUVs, and produce them here in Macon, Georgia. This is a long-term investment because we believe in the American market." The plant will be Volkswagen's premium subsidiary's first US assembly plant.

The numbers behind the announcement are substantial. Audi said the investment will create approximately 4,500 jobs, with construction scheduled to begin next year and production starting in the early 2030s. A US official told Reuters the plant is expected to assemble the Audi Q7, Q8 and Q9 SUVs. Separately, Audi is expected to announce plans to build 25,000 vehicles in South Carolina at Volkswagen's Scout Motors plant under construction in Blythewood, with some of the Georgia-built vehicles also earmarked for export.

The context is tariffs. Trump has pressured automakers to move production to the United States and raised tariffs on autos, steel, aluminum and parts; last year those tariffs dealt Audi a 1.2-billion-euro ($1.4 billion) blow, since it imports all of its US-market vehicles from Europe or Mexico. Audi's US sales are down 16% this year after falling for two consecutive years, and its sales slid 7% in the first half of 2026 as competition in China and US tariffs hit demand. Critics of the tariff strategy argue it has boosted vehicle prices and delayed some automaker investments — a tension the Georgia announcement does not resolve, since the first Georgia-built Audis are still years away.