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DETROIT — Audi's CEO defended the carmaker's plans for a new $4 billion plant in Georgia on Sunday, calling it a business decision aimed at growing sales and reducing exposure to U.S. tariffs.
The plant, set to be Audi's first in the U.S., was announced Saturday by President Donald Trump during a rally in Georgia, near where the Volkswagen-owned luxury brand plans to build the new SUV-producing facility.
"We have significantly greater ambitions for Audi in America," Audi CEO Gernot Dollner said during a media roundtable Sunday. "The United States is the second largest premium market in the world, and today we are not fully exploiting this potential. We are changing that."
The announcement comes amid an intense restructuring of its VW parent company, including plans to cut 50,000 jobs and close four German plants, including an Audi facility, between 2031 and 2034.
Dollner, who joined Trump at the rally, said the decision for a plant in the U.S. was years in the making, with more than 70 locations evaluated over "many months" and "intense" negotiations with public officials.
"This is not a decision against Germany. Germany remains the backbone of Audi," Dollner said. "We develop our cars here. Our technologies are created here, and Georgia does not take any task away from us in Germany."
Dollner said localized production is the best decision for the brand, which has struggled in sales this decade amid rising operational costs and Trump's tariffs on vehicles from Germany and other countries into the U.S. Current tariffs on vehicles from Germany are 15%, down from 25%.
Last year, U.S. tariffs cost Audi 1.2 billion euros ($1.4 billion), as it imports all its vehicles for the U.S. market from Europe or Mexico.
Dollner said the Trump administration asked Audi to announce the new plant at the Georgia rally promoting Republicans ahead of Nov. 3 midterm elections.
"It was … a three-year project that, at the end, by coincidence, led to that moment yesterday," he said Sunday. "With respect of the office and country, we joined the invitation."
Dollner noted Audi is the last major German luxury brand to establish U.S. production after Mercedes-Benz and BMW.
The company said the Georgia plant is expected to begin production of Audi's Q7, Q8 and Q9 in the early 2030s. The plant would have the capacity to produce up to 200,000 vehicles annually, roughly half of which the automaker said will be exported outside the U.S.
"This is to make Audi obviously a significant player here in the U.S. market," said Audi of America President Vito Paladino during the roundtable. He also said additional details on U.S. investments and production are forthcoming.
Audi's U.S. deliveries were roughly flat through the third quarter of this year, following a 16% decline from 2024 to 2025.