PERRY, Ga. — Audi has put names to the vehicles that will roll out of its first American factory. Chief executive Gernot Döllner confirmed the $4 billion plant planned for the Middle Georgia Megasite will assemble three large luxury SUVs, the Q7, Q8 and Q9, all of which are built in Slovakia today.
Döllner framed the project as a long-term bet on the U.S. market, where the German brand currently loses money and has depended entirely on imports. Rivals BMW and Mercedes-Benz have run American assembly plants for decades.
Tariffs are a big part of the math. Import duties cost the Volkswagen Group $4 billion in 2025, about $1.4 billion of it tied to Audi. Federal officials are reported to be weighing a tariff relief program for automakers that make large U.S. production investments, possibly lowering the 15% rate on European imports to roughly 10%. Neither the company nor the Commerce Department has confirmed such a deal.
The plant still needs a final vote from the Volkswagen Group supervisory board, though the chairman of Audi’s own supervisory board has backed it.
The state’s announcement in late October set the scale: about 4,500 jobs, grading on the site in 2027, construction starting in 2028 and full production expected in 2031, with capacity for 200,000 vehicles a year. The Megasite sits in Peach County and was promoted for years by Peach County’s development authority alongside the Mid-Georgia Gateway joint development authority of Houston, Macon-Bibb and Peach counties.
Georgia Quick Start will build a training program and a dedicated training center for Audi workers, working with Technical College System of Georgia campuses while the factory goes up. The site has Norfolk Southern rail service, and the ports of Savannah and Brunswick are both within a five-hour rail trip.
Audi of America leaders have also hinted that more U.S. investment announcements could follow.
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