(Deutsche Welle Chinese website) Trump recently announced at a campaign rally in Georgia that Audi plans to invest US$4 billion to build a factory in the state, with an annual output of 200,000 SUVs.
Audi subsequently confirmed the plan: construction is planned to start in 2027, production will begin in the early 2030s, and it is expected to create approximately 4,500 jobs.
However, whether the project can finally be implemented still requires the Volkswagen Supervisory Board to make a final investment decision.
Investment decisions draw criticism as German auto industry comes under pressure
Audi's announcement of its investment in the United States comes at a time when German car companies are under unprecedented pressure, including competition from China, rising costs, and geopolitical conflicts.
With the support of government subsidies, Chinese companies have rapidly expanded the production capacity of new models, continuously increased their market share, and seized the opportunity.
In contrast, German automakers have successively issued profit and layoff warnings.
Against this background, Audi spent billions to build a factory in the United States, triggering strong criticism. Because this may mean further job losses in Germany. Much of the criticism has focused on Audi CEO Gernot Döllner attending a campaign rally with Trump.
The timing of the Audi investment announcement coincides with the approaching U.S. midterm elections. Trump's choice to announce the investment plan in Georgia, a key battleground state, is seen as a move to boost the election of local Republican candidates.
Derner was criticized by the Social Democratic Party for supporting the election of a dictator who launched a trade war with Germany; he was criticized by the German Metal Industry Union (IG Metall) as "extremely embarrassing, politically unacceptable and damaging to the company's image"; and he was also criticized by the Volkswagen Works Council for being reduced to a "pawn in Trump's propaganda show".
contradictions
However, the union did not completely deny the commercial significance of Audi's building a factory in the United States. It believed that improving Volkswagen's position in the US market by building a factory was "right and necessary", but it also emphasized that the employment prospects of employees in each factory must be clearly guaranteed, especially German employees.
This investment therefore presents a contradiction: German car companies need to expand into the U.S. market and improve profitability to cope with global competition; but if the new production capacity and job opportunities are mainly located in the United States, local German employees may continue to be under the pressure of layoffs and factory closures.
What does Audi want?
Analysts pointed out that for Audi, producing cars in the United States is expected to avoid or reduce tariff costs.
Audi has previously stated that all its cars sold in the U.S. market are imported from Europe or Mexico. The tariffs imposed by Trump on cars, steel, aluminum and parts caused a cost burden of approximately 1.2 billion euros to the company last year.
Audi sold more than 160,000 vehicles in the United States last year, but sales still fell 16% year-on-year and faced fierce market competition.
Manfred Döss, chairman of Audi's supervisory board, stressed that cost cutting and efficiency gains alone cannot guarantee the carmaker's future: "We need the courage to invest, seize new opportunities and take decisions that will shape the company for decades to come."
Betting on large SUVs goes the opposite way to Europe
According to Reuters, a U.S. official revealed that the Georgia plant is expected to assemble Audi Q7, Q8 and Q9 series SUVs. Audi said the product will be a "high-end SUV developed specifically to meet the needs of North American consumers and manufactured locally."
Oliver Blume, CEO of Audi parent company Volkswagen, also said that the United States is a key market for profitable growth, and the potential Audi factory will create more favorable conditions for this.
Germany's "Der Spiegel" weekly observed this investment in the transformation of Audi's model strategy, and pointed out that Audi is betting on larger and more high-end SUVs, hoping to achieve greater profits in the North American market.
According to Der Spiegel, Audi calls the Q9 "the first large full-size SUV in Audi history": it is about 5.31 meters long, 2.21 meters wide, and 1.81 meters high. Its SQ9 version is equipped with a 4-liter V8 gasoline engine with a maximum power of 600 horsepower. Derna was quoted as saying that this SUV was "developed specifically for the needs of American customers."
Will supporting Trump affect Audi’s electric car sales in Europe?
Audi's launch of large/super large SUVs in the United States is in contrast to European cars' emphasis on electrification, energy conservation and emission reduction.
"Different regions require different responses," Derna said.
Audi is currently launching the new A2 e-tron in Europe, hoping to benefit from the growth of the European compact electric vehicle market and attract consumers with its energy-saving performance.
"Der Spiegel" further analyzed whether Audi CEO's endorsement of Trump's platform will have a negative impact on its flagship energy-saving models in Europe, and took Tesla as an example. Musk was once very close to Trump, and Tesla's sales in Europe declined significantly. However, after a period of time, Tesla's sales have rebounded significantly without Musk's words and deeds.
"Der Spiegel" believes that consumers have gradually become "numb, no longer pay attention to or simply agree with corporate values and stances."
How far can we go by going against the trend of environmental protection?
"Der Spiegel" believes that from a business perspective alone, Audi's choice to jump on Trump's fuel vehicle trend seems to make sense. Companies that build and sell large, gas-guzzling cars within the tariff barriers erected by Trump are now able to reap huge profits.
However, "Der Spiegel" also pointed out that Audi's increase in large fuel SUVs in the United States may benefit from the current policy, but the question is, how long can the United States continue to go against the climate policy politically? On top of this uncertainty, it is still unknown whether Audi can successfully put its factory in Georgia into production.
