- 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, can be axed on the finish of February 2025.
- VW unions are in talks with firm officers to search out different options for profitability aside from plant closures.
We’ve recognized for months concerning the troubles Audi has been having with its Brussels plant that in the present day solely builds the Q8 E-Tron. Rumors that the automaker was contemplating ending manufacturing of the electrical SUV early, primarily stopping all work on the facility. This made its 3,000 staff uneasy, and lots of gathered outdoors in protest, even setting tires alight to draw consideration and make the extent of their worries clear.
Indignant protesters reportedly broke into the ability final Wednesday and tried to enter the assembly room the place union representatives have been in talks with manufacturing facility officers relating to its future. The police have been known as to take away the protester and attempt to instill calm, however it apparently degenerated into violence, based on EuroNews.
Audi tried to discover a purchaser for the manufacturing facility, and China’s Nio, which Audi had a naming dispute with up to now, was reportedly all for 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 possible means the plant will shut its doorways in a couple of months.
That may most likely occur when manufacturing of the Q8 E-Tron, which hasn’t been as huge successful 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 seems like an eternity in the past given the speed of progress of EVs globally.
The Brussels plant may very well be Volkswagen’s first manufacturing facility to close its doorways, however two extra may comply with, together with tens of 1000’s of job cuts throughout Europe and a ten% wage lower 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 crops 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 crops beginning subsequent month and all of it is dependent upon 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 just 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 courtroom if it proceeds with the deliberate plant closures. This implies there’s nonetheless an opportunity Volkswagen (and Audi) will hold its overproducing factories open, however it is going to undoubtedly shut them if this poses a risk to its very existence (which isn’t the case but since its funds aren’t within the crimson).
