The head of Audi, the German carmaker, defended the company’s proposed $4 billion investment in a new American factory on Sunday. President Donald Trump had unveiled the plan while campaigning ahead of the November midterm elections.
Audi CEO Gernot Doellner appeared with Trump at a Saturday rally in Perry, a town near Macon in central Georgia. There, Trump said that Audi, a Volkswagen Group brand, intends to build an assembly plant in the state with the capacity to produce 200,000 SUVs each year.
Doellner told reporters on Sunday that the decision came after many months of thorough planning and tough negotiations. He said that when the American president extends an invitation, you accept it, because that is what respect for the office and for the country you are investing in requires.
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The investment still needs final approval from Volkswagen’s supervisory board before it can proceed.
Georgia has closely contested races for both a US Senate seat and the governorship, and Trump is keen to argue that his tariffs on foreign vehicles are strengthening the American economy and boosting domestic manufacturing.
In Germany, however, the tariffs have added strain to European industry and worsened friction between Volkswagen’s management and its workforce, who are facing job cuts and the possible closure of plants.
Audi has said that Trump’s tariffs on autos, steel, aluminum, and parts cost it roughly €1.2 billion ($1.4 billion) last year, since every vehicle it sells in the US is imported from Europe or Mexico.
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Opponents of the tariffs argue they have also hurt the American side, pushing up vehicle prices and causing some automakers to postpone investments.
A spokesperson for Germany’s IG Metall union said it was difficult to understand why Doellner would reach out to Trump in the middle of an election campaign. The spokesperson added that Trump has always been open about his aim, which is to undermine Germany’s domestic economy, the auto industry in particular.
Christiane Benner, who leads IG Metall and serves as deputy chair of Volkswagen’s supervisory board, said that strengthening the company’s US position through a new plant was both appropriate and needed.
She stressed, though, that workers at every site, and especially those in Germany, must be given clear and firm prospects for their future.
Doellner did not share the full terms of the US investment deal, including whether it comes with any tariff relief for the company.
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Olaf Lies, the premier of Lower Saxony, which is Volkswagen’s second-largest shareholder, said that ramping up US production could be a good opportunity, as long as German workers gain from it too.
He stressed that expansion in America should safeguard jobs and economic value at home rather than take them away.
Audi said the project will generate around 4,500 jobs, with construction set to start next year and production getting underway in the early 2030s.
A US official said that the plant is expected to assemble the Q7, Q8, and Q9 SUVs.
The official also said Audi intends to produce 25,000 vehicles annually in neighboring South Carolina and that some vehicles currently made in Europe would be shipped out of the US as exports.
The official said those vehicles would be built at Scout Motors’ $2 billion factory, which is currently under construction in Blythewood, close to the state capital of Columbia. Scout is Volkswagen’s off-road brand.
Volkswagen CEO Oliver Blume said the company sees the US as an important market for profitable expansion and that a possible Audi plant there would help create the right conditions for that growth.
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Outside Trump’s rally on Saturday, a gold Audi with manufacturer plates was parked.
