- Audi will close its factory in Belgium early next year after failing to find a buyer.
- Its only current product, the Q8 E-Tron, will be axed at the end of February 2025.
- VW unions are in talks with company officials to find alternative solutions for profitability other than plant closures.
We’ve known for months about the troubles Audi has been having with its Brussels plant that today only builds the Q8 E-Tron. Rumors that the automaker was considering ending production of the electric SUV early, essentially stopping all work at the facility. This made its 3,000 workers uneasy, and many gathered outside in protest, even setting tires alight to attract attention and make the extent of their worries clear.
Angry protesters reportedly broke into the facility last Wednesday and tried to enter the meeting room where union representatives were in talks with factory officials regarding its future. The police were called to remove the protester and try and instill calm, but it apparently degenerated into violence, according to EuroNews.
Audi tried to find a buyer for the factory, and China’s Nio, which Audi had a naming dispute with in the past, was reportedly interested in taking it over, but that deal was never confirmed by either party, and nothing materialized. Now Automotive News says Audi has officially ended the search for a buyer, which likely means the plant will shut its doors in a few months.
That will probably happen when production of the Q8 E-Tron, which hasn’t been as big a hit as Audi was hoping, stops at the end of February next year. The reasons behind the Q8 E-Tron’s failure are complex and are a mix of falling EV demand in key markets, the arrival of increasingly talented rivals from China, and the fact that it’s just a revamp of the original Audi E-Tron SUV launched in 2018, which feels like an eternity ago given the rate of progress of EVs globally.
The Brussels plant could be Volkswagen’s first factory to shut its doors, but two more could follow, along with tens of thousands of job cuts across Europe and a 10% salary cut for the employees that will stay. This is from another EuroNews report that quoted Volkswagen’s General Works Council Chairwoman Daniela Cavallo as saying, "All German VW plants are affected by this. None of them are safe."
Audi parent Volkswagen says it was not expecting post-pandemic demand to be so weak, and it was caught with too much production capacity. Reuters says strikes are expected at all of VW’s European plants starting next month and it all depends on what deals the unions will be able to negotiate with the automaker.
The workers’ union is proposing that no factories close but they are willing to accept concessions like forgoing bonuses in 2025 and 2026 that could yield €1.5 ($1.58) billion in savings, and it says it plans to take the automaker to court if it proceeds with the planned plant closures. This means there is still a chance Volkswagen (and Audi) will keep its overproducing factories open, but it will definitely close them if this poses a threat to its very existence (which isn’t the case yet since its finances aren't in the red).
