WASHINGTON (Realist English). US President Donald Trump announced plans for Volkswagen to build a new Audi plant in Georgia and expand its Scout facility in South Carolina. For Trump, this is an opportunity to present his tariff policy as a tool for bringing manufacturing back to the US in the final stretch of the campaign ahead of the November 3 midterm elections.
Project parameters
Audi, Volkswagen’s premium division, is investing about $4 billion (according to the company’s own estimate) in a facility south of Macon, Georgia. The plant’s capacity is 200,000 vehicles per year; production of the Q7, Q8, and Q9 SUVs is planned. Job creation is estimated at about 4,500.
Construction, according to various reports, will begin in 2027 or as early as November 2026; reaching full production capacity is expected only in the early 2030s. At the same time, Volkswagen will expand the Scout Motors plant under construction in Blythewood, South Carolina, adding 25,000 units of annual capacity.
Reason: tariffs
Audi imports all vehicles sold in the US from Europe or Mexico, and Trump’s 25% import duties on foreign cars and parts have “painfully” hit sales. In 2025, the tariffs cost Audi €1.2 billion ($1.4 billion). Volkswagen’s US sales, including Audi and Porsche, fell almost 10% in the third quarter.
Trump directly linked Audi’s decision to his tariff policy: “Without tariffs, they wouldn’t have come.” According to Bloomberg, Volkswagen hopes the investment announcement will help secure tariff relief: the administration and the company are discussing a mechanism of proportional tariff credits for automakers investing capital in US production.
Political context
The announcement was made at a rally in Perry, Georgia, near the future site in Macon. For Trump, this is an opportunity to demonstrate a “victory” in a swing state where Republican Senate candidate Mike Collins trails Democrat Jon Ossoff by more than 8 percentage points. However, production will begin only in the early next decade, and the announcement itself does not solve the problem of high fuel prices and inflation, which remain key for voters.
For Volkswagen, this is an attempt to reduce dependence on imports and tariff pressure, as well as to gain a foothold in the US market, where the company holds only 3.4% and for decades has been unable to increase its share to match its global scale. For Audi, this is its first plant in the US and a chance to close in on competitors BMW and Mercedes-Benz, which have long produced SUVs in America.
However, the project carries risks: the automaker already has underutilized capacity in Europe and may close or sell four plants. Building a new facility in the US that will reach full capacity only in a few years is a bet on long-term presence, not on a quick effect. For Trump, it is a political symbol; for Volkswagen, a calculation for tariff relief; for Georgia, a promise of jobs that will not appear soon.
