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President Donald Trump announced at a campaign rally in Perry, Georgia, on Saturday, October 24, 2026, that German automaker Audi will build its first assembly plant in the United States, near Macon, in a project presented as a major boost for American manufacturing and for Georgia.
Audi chief executive Gernot Döllner joined Trump on stage at the rally and told the crowd: "We are planning to bring our biggest and most premium SUVs, and produce them here in Macon, Georgia." He added: "This is a long-term investment because we believe in the American market."
The plant is expected to produce 200,000 SUVs a year and create approximately 4,500 jobs, according to Audi. A U.S. official told Reuters the plant is expected to assemble the Audi Q7, Q8 and Q9 models. Trump put the investment at $4.2 billion; Audi's own announcement puts it at around $4 billion. The site is the Middle Georgia Megasite near Macon, and Audi says the plant will build premium SUVs tailored to North American customers, making North America a third major pillar of its global production network alongside Europe and China.
On timing, Trump told the rally that construction is expected to begin next month, and he described the project as the single largest investment in U.S. auto industry history in modern times. Audi's official statement schedules construction to begin in 2027, with production starting in the early 2030s.
Trump presented the announcement as proof that his tariff policies are drawing manufacturing into the United States, telling the crowd that without tariffs the company would not be coming. Audi is the exception among its German rivals in one important respect: unlike BMW and Mercedes-Benz, it has relied exclusively on imports from Europe and Mexico for the U.S. market, and last year Trump's tariffs cost it 1.2 billion euros ($1.4 billion). Its U.S. sales are down 16 percent so far this year. Critics of the tariff policy say tariffs have boosted vehicle prices and that trade uncertainty has delayed some automaker investments.
The announcement also carries a wider footprint: Audi plans to build 25,000 vehicles a year in neighbouring South Carolina, at Volkswagen's Scout Motors plant under construction in Blythewood. It comes ten days before the November 3 midterm elections, in which Georgia has competitive races for the U.S. Senate and for governor. At the rally, Rick Jackson, the Republican candidate for Georgia governor, thanked Trump for the plans, calling it the biggest economic deal in Georgia history. Georgia Governor Brian Kemp said in a statement that the state was proud Audi had chosen it for its first U.S. plant.