Audi's First US Factory Plans to Bring About 4,500 Jobs to Georgia

Audi intends to invest around $4 billion and create approximately 4,500 jobs at its first U.S. plant, which will sit on the Middle Georgia Mega Site. The plant will be built in Peach County. It is designed to assemble an annual capacity of up to 200,000 vehicles, with production focused on premium SUVs for North American customers. For Metaintro readers in Macon, Warner Robins, Perry and the towns between them, this guide covers where the site is, when construction and production are scheduled, how Georgia plans to train the workforce, and what assemblers and maintenance technicians earn in similar jobs nationally.

What Exactly Did Audi Announce for Middle Georgia?

Audi has plans to establish its first U.S. plant site in Georgia, and the site will be among the brand's largest production footprints globally. Audi also wants to establish North America as a third major pillar of Audi's global production network alongside Europe and China.

The product focus is narrow. Production will be focused on Audi's premium SUVs tailored to North American customers, and the plant will be designed around Audi's future manufacturing requirements, with a focus on efficiency, flexibility and the ability to respond to evolving customer needs and market demand.

The scale of the employer matters for anyone weighing a long career there. The Audi Group operates in more than 110 markets, manufactures vehicles at 21 production sites in twelve countries, and employs more than 88,000 people worldwide, and its portfolio also includes Lamborghini, Bentley and Ducati. In the US today, Audi of America is headquartered in Reston, VA and handles distribution and marketing, with vehicles sold at more than 300 independent U.S. dealers.

The planned jobs are a target for a plant that does not exist yet, not open vacancies.

Where Will the Audi Plant Be Built?

The plant will go on the 1,474-acre Middle Georgia mega site along Georgia Highway 96 near Interstate 75. The property sits about 5 miles west of I-75 on the north side of Ga. 96 on the eastern outskirts of Fort Valley in Peach County, and Perry is about 20 minutes from the site.

Georgia first bought a more than 1,100-acre economic development site in Peach County, using proceeds from the sale of the Chatham County Economic Development Site, which was purchased by Amazon in 2021. At purchase, the site included four parcels of land, of which approximately 1,100 acres were developable, while the Audi announcement describes a 1,474-acre site. Rail service to the site comes from Norfolk Southern Class I rail on its north side, and both the Port of Savannah and the Port of Brunswick can be reached by rail in under five hours.

Three counties market the site together through the Mid-Georgia Gateway Joint Development Authority, which brings together Peach, Houston and Macon-Bibb counties and was formed in May to jointly develop, market and recruit investment to the Middle Georgia Megasite. The public cost of the deal is not yet known either, since officials have not released the total value or breakdown of the state and local tax incentive package, property tax abatements, or infrastructure grants provided to secure the project. Peach County holds four seats on the eight-member board. The plant itself is in Peach County, but local leaders expect the jobs, suppliers, infrastructure investment and tax benefits to reach communities across the region.

We set out to build a more resilient regional economy and secure major projects that will benefit our families and our workforce for decades, Peach County Commission Chairman Roy Lewis said, according to the press release.

The site is 90 minutes south of Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, and two regional airports are within 25 minutes of the property.

When Will the Audi Jobs Actually Arrive?

Two official timelines are in circulation, and they are close but not identical. Audi's own schedule has construction that is scheduled to begin in 2027 and that production is planned to start in the early 2030s. Georgia's schedule is more detailed, with Audi expected to begin grading in 2027 and construction on the new facility in 2028, and full production in 2031.

There is one more step before the money is locked in. A final decision on the investment will have to be taken by Volkswagen's supervisory board for it to go ahead, since Audi is part of the Volkswagen Group.

We have much greater ambitions for Audi in America, and Georgia will play a central role in making them a reality, Audi CEO Gernot Döllner said, according to the governor's release.

What Kinds of Jobs Will the Audi Plant Need?

Georgia will design a custom curriculum and build a dedicated training center to prepare workers for assembly, maintenance, and advanced manufacturing roles.

The work will not stop at the factory fence. Audi expects the investment to create opportunities for suppliers, service providers and training partners in the region.

Which vehicles the line will build is still partly open. The plant is expected to assemble the Audi Q7, Q8 and Q9 SUVs, a US official told Reuters, yet Audi has not yet named the specific vehicle models or propulsion systems scheduled for assembly at the facility.

State and local agencies are expected to continue working with Audi on permitting, infrastructure, construction, hiring and workforce development as the project moves forward.

How Will Georgia Train Workers for Audi?

Georgia Quick Start will work with Audi to develop a customized training curricula and design a designated training facility. It will also partner with local campuses in the Technical College System of Georgia to begin employee instruction on tailored curriculum as the training facility is constructed, so classes can start before the dedicated center is finished.

The program has a long track record. Georgia Quick Start is a discretionary incentive providing customized, company-specific workforce training at no cost to companies investing in and creating jobs in Georgia, and it began in 1967, when Georgia's leadership passed legislation to create a first-of-its-kind organization. Since then it has helped prepare more than 1.8 million Georgians for new jobs.

The way it works shapes what trainees will see. Quick Start meets with company leadership, subject-matter experts, and operations teams to define the scope of training needs, then builds plans with an emphasis on visual learning and hands-on training. It also promises to deliver the training whenever and wherever it makes sense for each company project.

How Did Georgia Train Workers for the Hyundai Metaplant?

Georgia built a dedicated training center for the Hyundai plant behind Savannah's hiring surge, a project that will create approximately 8,500 jobs by 2031. The Hyundai Mobility Training Center of Georgia is an 89,000-square-foot state-of-the-art facility, and at full capacity it can train up to 824 individuals at a time.

The equipment inside shows what auto plant training looks like in Georgia. Trainees start on an introductory line where trainees build timing, awareness, and coordination skills in a controlled, digital environment, then move to a full-length, moving production line with 53 integrated assembly activities and a built-in quality check system. There is also an automation and mechatronics lab focused on programmable logic controllers (PLCs), sensors, motion systems, and industrial automation.

The state did not wait for that building to open. While it was under construction, Quick Start established temporary training sites at three locations and used its existing center in Pooler. Kia shows how long the link can last, because Kia Georgia's training facility opened in 2008 and continues to work with Quick Start on updated training curricula with each expansion.

What Could Audi Plant Jobs Pay?

Specific starting hourly wages and salary ranges have not been published. The official line on pay is that competitive wages for all roles will be well-paying in the local market.

National wage data gives a fair starting point for the main roles. The median annual wage for assemblers and fabricators was $45,450 in May 2025, or $21.85 an hour. In transportation equipment manufacturing, the median for those workers was $50,790. A high school diploma is enough for most of these jobs, though experience and training are needed for advanced assembly work, and workers typically receive several months of on-the-job training.

Maintenance pays more. Industrial machinery mechanics, machinery maintenance workers and millwrights earned a median of $64,100 in May 2025, and those in manufacturing earned a median of $65,220. Industrial machinery mechanics may receive more than a year of on-the-job training, while machinery maintenance workers typically receive training that lasts a few months to a year.

These are national medians, not Audi offers.

Why Is Audi Building in the US Now?

The US is the world's second-largest premium market, and Audi expects a stronger presence in North America to help it reduce exposure to trade and currency risks.

Every Audi sold in the US is still built abroad, and US tariffs on autos, steel, aluminum and parts cost Audi around €1.2 billion (about $1.4 billion) last year as it imports all its vehicles for the US market from Europe or Mexico, Audi has said. Döllner declined to give full details on the investment deal with the US, including whether it involves tariff relief for the company.

Audi also plans to build 25,000 vehicles a year in neighboring South Carolina, a US official told Reuters, at a $2 billion plant of VW's off-road brand Scout Motors that is under construction in Blythewood. More may follow, as Audi looks forward to sharing additional U.S. investment announcements in the future.

Audi's reasons for choosing Georgia were speed-to-market, workforce, access to consumer markets, and proximity to an established automotive supply chain. The site was ready for a quick build, since industrial utilities are adjacent to the site and the due diligence work on the property has been completed.

What Does the Georgia Plant Mean for Audi Workers in Germany?

Audi maintains that Germany and Europe will remain the industrial backbone of Audi, and that the expansion in North America complements the existing production network.

IG Metall chief Christiane Benner, who is also deputy chair of Volkswagen's supervisory board, called a new US plant right and necessary and added that firm prospects for workers at all sites, particularly those here in Germany, must be clearly defined and set out. Olaf Lies, state premier of Lower Saxony, Volkswagen's second-largest shareholder, put it as growth in America must secure jobs and value creation here and must not displace them.

In Germany, Volkswagen workers face job cuts and possible plant closures, the backdrop to Volkswagen's plan for one of the biggest job cuts in auto industry history.

What This Means for Middle Georgia Job Seekers, and What Should You Do Next?

The honest reading is that this is a long runway, not a hiring rush. Cars will not roll off the line for years, since commercial production comes after site preparation, grading and facility construction, so the people best placed for the better-paid plant roles are the ones who spend the next few years building skills the plant will need, not the ones who wait for a job fair.

• Start with the trades that come first. Grading and construction come before production, so construction trades are needed first.
• Aim for maintenance and automation. The maintenance median wage sits well above the assembler median.
• Watch the technical colleges near you. Audi training will begin at Technical College System of Georgia campuses before the center opens.

Georgia is building a dedicated Audi training facility through Quick Start, the same free training program it used for Kia and Hyundai. Experience on an assembly line or in plant maintenance lines up with the assembly, maintenance, and advanced manufacturing roles Georgia plans to train for.

Lacey Kaelani, Metaintro's CEO, puts it this way: A plant that is years away from full production is hiring today, just not by name. The skills you start building this year are your application.

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People Also Asked

Q: How many jobs will the Audi plant in Georgia create?

A: Audi intends to create approximately 4,500 jobs at the plant, a planned figure for a factory that has not been built yet.

Q: When will the Audi Georgia plant start hiring production workers?

A: No hiring date has been announced, but site grading is expected to begin in 2027, construction in 2028 and full production in 2031.

Q: Where is the new Audi plant in Georgia?

A: It will be built at the Middle Georgia Megasite in Peach County, about 5 miles west of I-75 on the north side of Ga. 96, near Fort Valley.

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