Trump Announces Audi's First U.S. Factory at Georgia Rally, a $4.2 Billion Plant in Macon
President Donald Trump announced at his Perry, Georgia, rally on Saturday night that Audi will build its first-ever U.S. factory in Macon - a $4.2 billion plant he said will produce 200,000 cars a year - as the German luxury brand moves production to blunt tariff costs.
President Donald Trump announced Saturday night that Audi will build its first-ever U.S. factory in Macon, Georgia, unveiling the deal at his midterm campaign rally in Perry, the Wall Street Journal reported. "I'm thrilled to announce a massive auto manufacturing investment in the great state of Georgia by a fantastic company," Trump told the crowd. He pegged the investment at $4.2 billion, said the plant will produce 200,000 cars a year, and said construction will begin next month, calling it, in Bloomberg Law's account of the remarks, "the single largest investment in U.S. auto industry history, modern history."
Audi Chief Executive Gernot Döllner joined Trump onstage. "We are planning to bring our biggest and most premium SUVs, and produce them here in Macon," Döllner said. Audi said the factory will create about 4,500 jobs, that production is slated to start in the early 2030s, and that "Georgia combines an investment-ready site, skilled workforce, established automotive supplier network and strong logistics infrastructure." The White House did not respond to a request for comment, the Journal reported.
Trump credited his tariffs for the decision. "Without tariffs, they wouldn't be coming in," he said at the rally, according to Bloomberg Law. Audi is the only German auto brand without a U.S. factory - Volkswagen, BMW and Mercedes-Benz all build vehicles in the South - and it has been particularly exposed to the tariffs: the company says tariff costs hit its profits by about 1.2 billion euros in 2025 and it expects a similar outcome this year, after hiking prices on several models. A U.S. factory had been under consideration for at least two decades, the Journal reported.
The announcement hands Trump a headline win in a battleground state ten days before the November 3 midterms, with Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff defending his seat against Republican Rep. Mike Collins and Republican Rick Jackson locked in a tight governor's race against former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms. It also lands as Audi leans harder on the U.S. market: the brand sold about 165,000 cars in the U.S. last year, down 16 percent from 2024, while its sales in China - its largest single-country market - are down 19 percent year over year, the Journal reported.
