Audi Chief Executive Gernot Doellner defended the German automaker’s planned $4 billion investment in a new US plant after appearing alongside President Donald Trump at a rally in Perry, Georgia. The project was announced as Trump campaigns for the November midterm elections.
At the Saturday rally near Macon in central Georgia, Trump said Audi, part of the Volkswagen Group, planned to construct an assembly plant in the state. The facility would produce 200,000 SUVs annually.
Doellner told reporters on Sunday that the proposal followed extensive preparation. “This decision was preceded by many months of careful planning and intense negotiations,” he said.
The Audi chief also defended his decision to appear with Trump. “If the American president invites you, you accept the invitation. That is what respect for the office and for the country in which we invest demands.”
The investment is not yet final. Volkswagen’s supervisory board must approve the proposal before the project can move ahead, leaving a major corporate decision still to be completed.
The announcement comes as Georgia faces competitive races for governor and the US Senate. Trump is eager to argue that his auto tariffs are supporting the US economy and strengthening domestic manufacturing.
Those tariffs have created serious costs for Audi, which imports all vehicles sold in the US market from Europe or Mexico. Audi said tariffs on autos, steel, aluminum and parts cost the company about €1.2 billion, or $1.4 billion, last year.
Critics contend that the tariffs have also caused damage inside the US by raising vehicle prices and delaying some automaker investments. In Germany, the trade measures have increased pressure on European industry while adding to tensions between Volkswagen management and workers.
A spokesperson for Germany’s IG Metall union called Doellner’s decision to extend a hand to Trump during the election “hard to understand”. The spokesperson said, “Trump has never failed to make it clear what he is after: he wants to weaken our domestic economy, particularly the automotive sector.”
Christiane Benner, head of IG Metall and Volkswagen’s deputy supervisory board chair, offered qualified support for greater US production. She said improving the company’s position in the American market with a new plant was “right and necessary”.
Benner also demanded clarity for the company’s existing workforce. “However, firm prospects for workers at all sites, particularly those here in Germany, must be clearly defined and set out,” she said.
Doellner declined to provide complete details about the agreement with the US, including whether Audi would receive tariff relief. That leaves unanswered questions about how the planned factory might affect the company’s exposure to Trump’s import duties.
Olaf Lies, state premier of the German state of Lower Saxony, said expanded US production could represent an opportunity if German workers also gain. Lower Saxony is Volkswagen’s second largest shareholder.
“Growth in America must secure jobs and value creation here and must not displace them,” Lies said. His remarks reflected concerns that greater investment in the US should not come at the expense of Volkswagen operations in Germany.
Audi said the Georgia investment would create approximately 4,500 jobs. Construction is scheduled to start next year, while production is expected to begin in the early 2030s.
A US official told Reuters that the plant is expected to assemble the Audi Q7, Q8 and Q9 SUVs. Audi also plans to produce 25,000 vehicles annually in neighboring South Carolina, according to the official.
Some vehicles currently built in Europe would be exported, the official added. Production would take place at a $2 billion Scout Motors plant under construction in Blythewood, near South Carolina’s capital, Columbia.
Volkswagen CEO Oliver Blume described the region as important to the company’s expansion plans. “We regard the region as a key market for profitable growth,” Blume said. “A potential Audi plant in the US would create further conditions for this.”
The public presentation included a visual flourish outside Trump’s Saturday rally. A gold Audi bearing manufacturer licence plates was parked outside the event as the proposed factory drew attention in Georgia and Germany.