Audi plans Q7, Q8 and Q9 production in Macon

Some Bratislava output shifts to Georgia plant amid tariff pressure

Audi plans to build the Q7, Q8 and Q9 SUVs at a new factory in Macon, Georgia, and shift some production from Bratislava, Slovakia, to the site. Audi said the plant, its first factory in the United States, represents a $4bn (£3bn) investment and would create 4,500 jobs. The automaker aims to build 200,000 SUVs there.

Audi chief executive Gernot Döllner joined Donald Trump on stage at a campaign rally on Saturday night to announce the project. The Guardian described the appearance as an unusual move for a big European brand days before the U.S. midterm elections. Döllner said he accepted the invitation to speak at the rally out of respect for the United States.

“We are planning to bring our biggest and most premium SUVs, and produce them here in Macon, Georgia,” Döllner said at the event. “This is a long-term investment because we believe in the American market.”

The Volkswagen group said there was still demand in the United States for Audi’s large petrol SUVs and that it was planning the Q9, its largest-ever SUV, with the American market in mind. The Guardian noted that large petrol-powered SUVs have played a big role in global carbon emissions.

The announcement came as Trump continued to argue that his tariffs were helping increase the number of manufacturing jobs in the United States and had seized on new factory investments. The Guardian reported that U.S. vehicle and parts employment had fallen since Trump took office the previous year. The Guardian also said the Republican Party was polling poorly as it tried to retain control of both houses of Congress, with higher fuel prices caused by Trump’s war on Iran and his trade war against some of the United States’ biggest trading partners.

Audi, which The Guardian described as Volkswagen’s most important premium brand, has been affected by the 15% U.S. tariff on imports from the EU and by Trump’s efforts to cut battery-electric-vehicle sales in favor of petrol cars. Volkswagen was also changing where it made vehicles.

Volkswagen has said Trump’s tariffs cost the company up to €5bn (£4.2bn) a year before the impact of lower sales. The German manufacturer said this month that it was still struggling with “continued high pressure from import tariffs”. In July, Volkswagen chief executive Oliver Blume told investors that “US tariffs create a significant burden and restrict international trade”.

Volkswagen was also forced to shift some production of its cheapest cars, including the Jetta saloon and Taos SUV, from Mexico to the United States. For Audi, the Macon project shifts some production from Bratislava, Slovakia, to Georgia.

The Guardian said the new Georgia factory may add to tensions in Germany, where Volkswagen has started cutting as many as 100,000 jobs and closing factories. Volkswagen said it blamed the job losses on intense competition from Chinese carmakers, as well as tariffs and a need to invest heavily in the shift to EVs for markets other than the United States.