Trump announces $4.2B Audi plant near Macon

PERRY — President Donald Trump on Saturday announced German automaker Audi will spend $4.2 billion to build its first U.S. manufacturing facility near Macon, touting the massive economic development project at a campaign rally aimed at boosting Georgia Republicans in tight statewide races.

Trump said the massive plant from Audi parent Volkswagen could one day produce 200,000 cars a year. State officials say it could employ at least 4,500 people when fully built out.

“Think about that — 200,000 cars a year,” Trump said. “That’s incredible.”

A new auto plant by an esteemed luxury brand would burnish Georgia’s credentials as a hub of automotive manufacturing in the South. The facility would be built about 5 miles west of I-75 on the north side of Ga. 96 on the eastern outskirts of Fort Valley in Peach County.

“We are planning to bring our biggest and most premium SUVs and produce them here in Macon,” Audi chief executive Gernot Döllner said. “This is a long-term investment because we believe in the American market.”

Hyundai operates a sprawling electric vehicle factory near Savannah and Kia operates a plant in West Georgia. EV startup Rivian, meanwhile, plans a factory an hour east of Atlanta.

Just this week, school bus manufacturer Blue Bird announced plans to build a $300 million plant and create 375 jobs at a new production hub in Fort Valley.

The future Audi property, at least for now, is about half the size of the site of Hyundai’s electric vehicle assembly factory site along I-16 near Savannah. But it is expandable to about 2,400 acres, according to state officials, who requested anonymity because they weren’t authorized to speak publicly.

The state first acquired the property, about 1,100 acres at the time, in a mid-2022 partnership with the Development Authority of Peach County, naming it the Middle Georgia Megasite.

The acquisition was funded by proceeds from the sale of the Chatham County Economic Development site, which officials said in a statement at the time had been purchased the year before by Amazon for a distribution facility.

Republican Gov. Brian Kemp, who was not at the Trump rally, said in a statement that the project is the result of careful planning.

“Following the success we’ve enjoyed with other megasites, we purchased and made more improvements to the Middle Georgia Megasite for just this purpose: to bring a job-creating, high-caliber automotive manufacturer to this region,” Kemp said.

Local officials had remained tight-lipped about details of the pending announcement in the run-up to Trump’s visit.

Trump held the rally in Georgia as polls show a razor-tight race for Georgia governor and downballot offices. The president asked GOP voters to “pretend” he’s on the ballot.

As word trickled out late in the week that Trump would announce the project at Saturday’s rally, there was speculation the venue was moved 20 miles south from Macon — its originally announced city — to Perry, the Houston County seat, because of its proximity to the megasite less than 10 minutes away by car.

Bibb, Houston and Peach — the three counties that have agreed to back and promote the site — earlier this year pledged $7 million apiece to market it and bring it up to industry standards as needed.

The counties are home to a combined population of more than 360,000 people. Another 130,000 or so people live in surrounding counties within about a 45-minute drive.