Audi Announces $4 Billion Georgia Plant and 4,500 Jobs at Trump Rally Ahead of Midterms

Since Trump raised tariffs on autos, steel, aluminum and parts, pressure on foreign automakers to build in America has only grown. On Saturday, Oct. 24, Audi became the latest to answer it, with a $4 billion plant in central Georgia.

Trump announced the project at a rally in Perry, near Macon. Audi, Volkswagen's premium brand, said the plant will have annual capacity of up to 200,000 vehicles and create about 4,500 jobs. Construction is scheduled to begin in 2027. Production is planned for the early 2030s.

What Audi says it is building

The site is the Middle Georgia Mega Site. Audi CEO Gernot Döllner said the company will bring "our biggest and most premium SUVs" to Macon. "This is a long-term investment because we believe in the American market," he said at the event.

A U.S. official told Reuters the plant is expected to assemble the Audi Q7, Q8 and Q9. The same official said Audi plans another 25,000 vehicles a year in South Carolina, built by VW at the $2 billion Scout Motors plant under construction in Blythewood. Audi has not detailed that second piece in its public announcement.

Audi's own release gives a business rationale. The U.S. is the world's second-largest premium market, and the company says it has "not yet realized our full potential." Local production would make North America a third pillar of its network alongside Europe and China, and would reduce exposure to trade and currency risks.

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp called the decision "another defining moment" for the state.

The tariff argument

Audi imports every vehicle it sells in the U.S. from Europe or Mexico. Last year, Trump's tariffs cost the company 1.2 billion euros ($1.4 billion).

Sen. Bernie Moreno, an Ohio Republican, said late Saturday that the plant "would never have happened without tariffs, without common sense regulations and without eliminating California's ability to regulate fuel economy standards." He also said Audi will now build all of its SUVs for the U.S. exclusively in America.

Audi's statement does not name tariffs as the reason for the decision. It points to Georgia's workforce, supplier network and logistics, and to its own growth strategy. Moreno's claim is his reading of the cause.

The company's numbers explain some of the urgency. Audi sales have fallen two years running and slid 7% in the first half of 2026 amid heavy competition in China and the impact of U.S. tariffs. U.S. sales are down 16% this year. Audi's Neckarsulm plant in southwest Germany is one of four German VW plants that could close after 2030.

The political backdrop

Georgia has competitive races for U.S. Senate and governor, and Trump is using the rally circuit to argue his trade policy is rebuilding American manufacturing. The White House has provided a list of automaker projects totaling more than $50 billion that it credits to the president's trade agenda.

Critics argue the tariffs have raised vehicle prices and that the trade uncertainty has delayed some automaker investments. U.S. employment in vehicle and parts manufacturing has fallen since Trump took office last year. His administration has also cut incentives for electric vehicles, which has cut U.S. EV and battery production significantly.

Trump's own claims about the auto industry have drawn a correction this week. At a Baltimore shipyard on Tuesday he said, "We didn't build a car plant for 44 years in this country. Now we're building more car plants than we ever have in history." An Associated Press fact check found that false. More than two dozen major vehicle assembly plants opened in the U.S. over the past four decades, based on manufacturer histories, public records and data from Autos Drive America.

The AP did credit real movement under Trump. Hyundai's Metaplant America opened in Georgia, and Rivian broke ground on a second Georgia factory. University of Michigan economist Joshua Hausman told the AP that car factories "have been built regularly over the past few decades," and that most of what Americans buy is already made here. Toyota said in July it would spend $3.6 billion on a truck assembly line at its San Antonio campus.

What comes next

The timeline matters. Ground breaks in 2027, but the first vehicles are not due until the early 2030s, so the 4,500 jobs arrive years after the Nov. 3 election and after Trump's current term. Audi has made a plan and a dollar figure public, not a finished plant.

The open questions are on the German side. Audi has not said what the Georgia plant means for Neckarsulm, which sits on the list of VW plants that could close after 2030.