The Audi logo can be seen at car dealerships in Manhattan.
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DETROIT — Audi’s CEO on Sunday defended the company’s plan to build a new $4 billion factory in Georgia, arguing it was a business decision aimed at boosting sales and reducing the impact of U.S. tariffs.
The plant will be Audi’s first in the United States and was announced Saturday by President Donald Trump during a rally in Georgia. volkswagenThe owned luxury brand plans to build a new SUV production facility.
“We have very big ambitions for Audi in the United States,” Audi CEO Gernot Dorner said during a media roundtable on Sunday. “The United States is the second largest premium market in the world, but today we are under-utilizing this potential. We are changing that.”
The announcement comes amid a major restructuring at Volkswagen’s parent company, which includes plans to cut 50,000 jobs and close four factories in Germany, including the Audi facility, between 2031 and 2034.
Dorner, who attended the rally with President Trump, said the decision to build a factory in the United States took years and took “months” and “intense” negotiations with public officials to evaluate more than 70 sites.
Dorner said: “This is not a decision against Germany. Germany will continue to be the backbone of Audi.” “We develop cars here. Our technology is created here and Georgia will not take any jobs away from us in Germany.”
Dorner said local production was the best decision for the brand, which has struggled with sales over the past decade due to rising operating costs and the impact of the Trump administration’s tariffs on vehicles from Germany and other countries to the United States. The current tariff on vehicles from Germany has been reduced from 25% to 15%.
Audi lost 1.2 billion euros ($1.4 billion) last year to U.S. tariffs because it imports all its vehicles for the U.S. market from Europe or Mexico.
Dorner said the Trump administration asked Audi to announce the new factory at a rally in Georgia to promote the Republican Party ahead of the Nov. 3 midterm elections.
“It was… a three-year project that ended up, coincidentally, coming to that moment yesterday,” he said Sunday. “As a tribute to the office and the country, we have joined the invitation.”
Dorner noted that Audi was the last major German luxury brand to establish production in the United States, after Mercedes-Benz and BMW.
According to the company, production of the Audi Q7, Q8, and Q9 is scheduled to begin at the Georgia plant in the early 2030s. The plant will have the capacity to produce up to 200,000 vehicles a year, about half of which will be exported outside the United States, the automaker said.
“This is to make Audi clearly an important player here in the U.S. market,” Audi of America President Vito Palladino said at the roundtable. He also said additional details regarding U.S. investment and production will be announced in the future.
Audi’s U.S. deliveries fell 16% from 2024 to 2025, but remained roughly flat through the third quarter of this year.
