- Audi will shut its manufacturing facility in Belgium early subsequent yr after failing to discover a purchaser.
- Its solely present product, the Q8 E-Tron, might be axed on the finish of February 2025.
- VW unions are in talks with firm officers to seek out different options for profitability aside from plant closures.
We’ve identified for months concerning the troubles Audi has been having with its Brussels plant that at the moment solely builds the Q8 E-Tron. Rumors that the automaker was contemplating ending manufacturing of the electrical SUV early, basically stopping all work on the facility. This made its 3,000 staff uneasy, and lots of gathered exterior in protest, even setting tires alight to draw consideration and make the extent of their worries clear.
Offended protesters reportedly broke into the ability final Wednesday and tried to enter the assembly room the place union representatives had been in talks with manufacturing facility officers concerning its future. The police had been known as to take away the protester and try to instill calm, however it apparently degenerated into violence, in keeping with EuroNews.
Audi tried to discover a purchaser for the manufacturing facility, and China’s Nio, which Audi had a naming dispute with previously, was reportedly fascinated about taking it over, however that deal was by no means confirmed by both get together, and nothing materialized. Now Automotive Information says Audi has formally ended the seek for a purchaser, which seemingly means the plant will shut its doorways in just a few months.
That may in all probability occur when manufacturing of the Q8 E-Tron, which hasn’t been as massive a success as Audi hoped, stops on the finish of February subsequent yr. The explanations behind the Q8 E-Tron’s failure are complicated and are a mixture of falling EV demand in key markets, the arrival of more and more proficient rivals from China, and the truth that it’s only a revamp of the unique Audi E-Tron SUV launched in 2018, which looks like an eternity in the past given the speed of progress of EVs globally.
The Brussels plant might be Volkswagen’s first manufacturing facility to close its doorways, however two extra might observe, together with tens of hundreds of job cuts throughout Europe and a ten% wage minimize for the workers that may keep. That is from one other EuroNews report that quoted Volkswagen’s Basic Works Council Chairwoman Daniela Cavallo as saying, “All German VW vegetation are affected by this. None of them are protected.”
Audi guardian Volkswagen says it was not anticipating post-pandemic demand to be so weak, and it was caught with an excessive amount of manufacturing capability. Reuters says strikes are anticipated in any respect of VW’s European vegetation beginning subsequent month and all of it will depend on what offers the unions will be capable of negotiate with the automaker.
The employees’ union is proposing that no factories shut however they’re keen to simply accept concessions like forgoing bonuses in 2025 and 2026 that might yield €1.5 ($1.58) billion in financial savings, and it says it plans to take the automaker to court docket if it proceeds with the deliberate plant closures. This implies there may be nonetheless an opportunity Volkswagen (and Audi) will preserve its overproducing factories open, however it’ll undoubtedly shut them if this poses a menace to its very existence (which isn’t the case but since its funds aren’t within the crimson).
