OddsFrontAudi to build $4bn SUV plant in Georgia as Volkswagen grapples with Trump tariffs
Volkswagen’s Audi plans its first US factory in Macon, Georgia, a $4bn project unveiled at a Trump rally days before the midterms, as the brand struggles with tariffs on European imports.
Audi, the premium arm of Germany’s Volkswagen, will invest $4bn in its first factory on American soil, to be built in Macon, Georgia, the Guardian reported. The plan was unveiled on Saturday night at a Trump campaign rally, where Audi chief executive Gernot Döllner appeared on stage alongside the US president.
According to the Guardian, the plant is intended to turn out 200,000 SUVs and employ 4,500 people. It will assemble the Q7, Q8 and Q9 models, with part of that output moving from Bratislava in Slovakia.
Tariffs behind the decision
The investment follows a difficult stretch for the brand. The Guardian said Audi has been hit by the 15% tariff Washington levies on imports from the European Union, as well as by the president’s drive to steer buyers from battery electric vehicles towards petrol cars.
Volkswagen has said the duties cost it as much as €5bn a year, before the effect of weaker sales is counted. This month the group said it still faced “continued high pressure from import tariffs”, according to the Guardian. The carmaker was also compelled to move some production of its least expensive models, including the Jetta saloon and Taos SUV, from Mexico to the United States.
Döllner said he had accepted the invitation to speak at the rally out of respect for the US. “This is a long-term investment because we believe in the American market,” he said, adding that the company plans to bring its biggest and most premium SUVs to Macon. The group says American demand for large petrol SUVs remains, and it is developing its largest-ever SUV, the Q9, with that market in mind.
Political and domestic backdrop
The Guardian described the appearance as an unusual step for a major European brand so close to the midterm elections. Republicans are trying to hold both houses of Congress but are polling poorly, the newspaper said, as voters contend with higher fuel prices that it attributed to Trump’s war on Iran, along with his trade war against some of America’s largest trading partners.
Trump has long argued that tariffs are bringing manufacturing jobs back to the country and has been quick to highlight new factory investments. Yet employment in US vehicles and parts has declined since he took office last year, the Guardian noted.
At home, Volkswagen is shrinking. The company has begun cutting as many as 100,000 jobs in Germany and closing plants, citing fierce competition from Chinese carmakers, the tariffs and heavy spending on the shift to electric vehicles for markets outside the US. The Georgia project may therefore sharpen tensions in Germany, the Guardian said. Chief executive Oliver Blume told investors in July that US tariffs “create a significant burden and restrict international trade”.
What remains unclear
The Guardian’s account did not say when construction in Macon would begin or when production would start, nor how much of the Bratislava output would be transferred.