Audi's US$4bn Georgia plant targets 200,000 units from 2030

Audi has confirmed plans for a US plant with 200,000 units of annual capacity at a budgeted cost of US$4bn, with construction to commence in 2027 and first vehicles due in 2030. The location is described only as the 'Middle Georgia Mega Site', and Audi has not yet named the models to be built there. The Q9 flagship SUV is expected to be among them.

What does this change for production planning?

The Q9 — the largest model Audi has ever released — launches first from Volkswagen Group's Bratislava plant in Slovakia, a long-standing site for big Audi and VW SUVs. Around two thirds of Q9 production is due to be exported to the US, with US pricing starting just below $90,000 and German pricing from €108,400 (about US$120,900).

The model's life cycle should run eight years, putting a facelift in the final quarter of 2030 — probably coinciding with the US plant coming online, at which point Slovakian output would be wound down. For Bratislava, that raises the question of what succeeds the brand's three large SUVs there; the re-engineered Q7 relaunched earlier in 2026 and the Q8, due for the same treatment in 2027, are both to be replaced in 2030 and are expected to be US-built.

Powertrains split by market

The Q9 for North America uses a standard 2.9-litre mild-hybrid V6 (an MHEV pairs a small electric motor with the combustion engine), while the SQ9 takes the Group's 4.0-litre V8 with 591 hp and 590 lb-ft in US spec. Each engine has two turbochargers and sends torque to both axles through an eight-speed automatic. Only the SQ9 gets a locking rear differential; the Q9 has a centre differential for its AWD system. Four-wheel steering is standard or optional, with 2+2+2 or 2-3-2 seating. Europe also gets 180 kW/500 Nm and 220 kW/630 Nm versions of a 3.0-litre biturbo mild-hybrid V6.

The Q9 is larger than the Mercedes GLS and BMW X7, targeting the Lexus, Lincoln and Cadillac segment where margins are especially high. First deliveries reach buyers within days.

Model-by-model: the rest of the cycle plan

• Q6: at 5,099 mm, built in and for China; switches to EREV (extended-range electric vehicle) powertrains for its second generation in 2029/2030.
• Q6 e-tron: built in Ingolstadt on the PPE platform, mostly for Europe; refresh about a year away, successors likely in 2031. The China-market Q6L e-tron should be facelifted in 2027 and replaced by FAW-Audi within five years.
• Q5: generation three launched in 2025 on the PPC platform; refresh due 2028/2029, successor in 2031 or 2032. It is too early to say whether today's plants in China and Mexico remain lead sites for the Q5L and standard-length replacements.
• Q4 e-tron and Sportback: facelifts announced earlier in 2026; replacements due in 2029.
• Q3/Q3 Sportback: facelift in 2028 or 2029; next generations from the second half of 2031.

No new Q2 or Q1 is planned — margins are seen as too small. The decade-old Q2 went out of production six months ago.

Cars: Leipzig outsourcing and the end of the ICE A6?

The A8 and S8 have disappeared due to extremely low sales, but a next-generation model may be justified by outsourcing manufacture to Porsche's Leipzig plant, with a 2028 debut rumoured. The current A6/A6L may be the last of the line, replaced by the next generation of the A6 e-tron. An A4 e-tron should arrive in 2029, two years after the next A3's premiere. Production of the Golf-sized A2 e-tron SUV has just begun in Ingolstadt, with first deliveries in December, a seven-year life cycle and a facelift planned for 2030.

Sports cars cap the range

The C-Sport project, an electric TT-style model previewed by the Concept C in September 2025, enters production at Böllinger Höfe in Germany in 2027. The Nuvolari supercar launches next year, limited to 499 units. It pairs a 4.0-litre V8 — claimed at 588 kW (799 PS) and 730 Nm, redline at 10,000 rpm — with 110 kW electric motors, two at the front and a third between engine and transmission, on a new 'Audi Space Frame' with carbon panels.

What to watch next: the naming of models and confirmed capacity milestones for the Georgia site, the start of construction in 2027, and the 2030 decision point when Q9 output shifts from Bratislava.