Another Tariff Win: World’s 2nd Largest Automaker Making the Move to America

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President Trump’s tariffs are finally making carmakers move to America.

We had Hyundai mention last week that it’s making the move.

And now we have Volkswagen, the world’s No. 2 automaker in 2024.

They’re getting U.S. plants ready for its Audi division.

What once rolled in from Hungary, Mexico, Slovakia, Spain, and China is about to say “Made in USA”.

But I thought tariffs don’t work? They don’t work, right? New York Times told me they don’t work. What’s going on?

Daily Mail reports:

As President Donald Trump had hoped, carmakers are starting to shift gears on manufacturing.

But much of the industry reaction is centered on electric vehicles — technology Trump has repeatedly criticized, even as his trade policies help bring it stateside.

Volkswagen Group, the second largest automaker in the world in 2024, is preparing to join the growing list of automakers looking to rejig its US factories in response to the tariffs.

The German automaler’s luxury brand, Audi — which assembles most of its lineup in its home country, Hungary, Mexico, Slovakia, Spain, and China — is planning to make some of its crossover and SUV models in America.

‘We want to localize more strongly in the USA,’ a company spokesperson told DailyMail.com.

‘To this end, we are currently examining various scenarios. We are confident that we will make a decision on this in consultation with the Volkswagen Group before the end of this year as to what this will look like in concrete terms.’

On a recent earnings call, Audi CFO Jürgen Rittersberger added that Audi plans to launch 10 new models in the US, with production locations to be announced in 2026.

While no final decision has been made, sources speaking to German trade publication Automobilwoche say Audi is scouting three potential locations in the US.

The frontrunner plant reportedly in consideration is in Chattanooga, Tennessee, where its parent company Volkswagen already builds the ID.4 electric crossover.

Since the Audi Q4 E-tron shares a similar platform with the ID.4, the plant could be adapted relatively quickly to handle production without starting from scratch.

Volkswagen also builds the Atlas and Atlas Sport at the Chattanooga facility, and several thousand vehicles from the plant are exported each year — boosting US GDP in the process.

Shifting production lines to make room for Audi models could slow some of those exports, but it would deepen the domestic supply chain.

Another potential site is in South Carolina, where VW is breaking ground on a new factory to build electric-based pickups and SUVs under the Scout Motors name.

Remember this headline from a month ago? So much for that.

 



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