Audi intends to produce in the USA for the first time and to build a plant in the state of Georgia for around four billion dollars (about 3.6 billion euros) – and the appearance of CEO Gernot Döllner at a campaign event of US President Donald Trump has drawn criticism from the SPD.
Trump had announced the plans on Saturday (local time) at an appearance in Perry in Georgia, just over a week before the congressional elections on 3 November, as the Tagesspiegel and the Berliner Zeitung report. He then brought Döllner onto the stage, who thanked Trump for his support. The SPD transport expert Isabel Cademartori called the appearance on Sunday in Berlin a “disgrace, particularly in view of the history of the VW group”, as she said according to Handelsblatt. Audi is a subsidiary of the Volkswagen group.
Four billion dollars, 4,500 jobs – and a dispute over timing
According to Audi, around 4,500 jobs are to be created in Georgia, with annual capacity of up to 200,000 vehicles. Large premium SUVs for the North American market are to be built. According to information from Reuters, the Q7, Q8 and Q9 model series are among those envisaged; Audi has so far not published a binding model list, writes the Berliner Zeitung. The factory is to be built on the “Middle Georgia Megasite” south-west of Macon.
The statements on the timetable differ: Trump said construction would begin in November. Audi states 2027 as the intended start of construction in its release, with production to begin in the early 2030s. According to the Berliner Zeitung, the government of Georgia specified that site preparation should begin in 2027, with the actual factory construction to follow in 2028, and series production expected for 2031. There is also a difference in the investment sum: Trump put it at 4.2 billion dollars, while Audi itself put it at around four billion dollars.
The construction still has to be approved by the supervisory board of Volkswagen AG. IG Metall chief Christiane Benner, deputy chair of the body, said according to Tagesspiegel: “The final vote will rightly and importantly be taken in the supervisory board of Volkswagen AG with a holistic view.” According to WirtschaftsWoche, Audi supervisory board chairman Manfred Döss had already supported the board’s line.
Campaign help for an “autocrat”?
Cademartori, a Bundestag member and co-chair of the SPD Baden-Württemberg, criticised according to Handelsblatt that while employees in Germany feared for their jobs, Audi was announcing billion-dollar investments at Trump’s side “in the politically particularly contested state of Georgia, which will be decisive for the future balance of majorities in the Senate”. “To openly campaign for an autocrat who is waging a trade war against Germany is a new low for the VW group,” said Cademartori. Deutschlandfunk also reports, citing media information, that Döllner’s appearance violates the group’s guidelines. According to WirtschaftsWoche, Audi’s “Principles and Guidelines for Political Interest Representation” state: “Our employees also pay attention to neutrality in dealing with parties and interest groups and maintain contact with democratic parties. To respect this principle, no publicly effective appointments with parties/politicians standing for election and no sponsorships of corresponding events will be carried out in the three months before elections.”
The union gave fundamental approval with a warning. “Better opening up the US market through a new plant is right and necessary,” said Benner according to Tagesspiegel. “However, binding prospects for the employees at all sites, especially the local ones, must be clearly defined and set down.” According to WirtschaftsWoche, the VW group works council pointed to “numerous open questions” in the committees. Lower Saxony’s Minister-President Olaf Lies, who represents the state on the VW supervisory board, said: “Growth in America must secure work and value creation here and must not displace them.”
Audi justifies the step with the US market and the car tariffs imposed by Trump, which have made the previous import business more expensive. According to Reuters, the tariffs burdened Audi alone with around 1.2 billion euros in 2025. A spokesperson said according to WirtschaftsWoche that the investment was “not a decision against Germany”. VW chief Oliver Blume explained in a release that a possible plant for Audi in the USA would create further conditions for “localised products from the USA for the USA”.
The expansion plans come amid a tense situation in Germany: according to the Berliner Zeitung, Audi’s board and the group works council had already agreed in March 2025 to cut up to 7,500 jobs by the end of 2029. At the beginning of September 2026, the VW supervisory board also approved a restructuring plan with around 50,000 further jobs worldwide. According to the information, there is so far no secured follow-up production for the plants in Emden, Zwickau, Hannover and Neckarsulm from 2031 to 2034. However, an immediate withdrawal of German Audi production has not been announced; large SUV models such as the Q7 and Q8 have so far been manufactured in Bratislava in Slovakia.
Editor’s note: Whether Döllner’s appearance actually violates the group guidelines is reported by the sources only as media information; no statement from Audi on this is available.
