- Audi will shut its manufacturing unit 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 various options for profitability apart from plant closures.
We’ve identified for months in regards to the troubles Audi has been having with its Brussels plant that right this 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 plenty 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 had been in talks with manufacturing unit officers concerning its future. The police had been known as to take away the protester and try to instill calm, nevertheless it apparently degenerated into violence, in keeping with EuroNews.
Audi tried to discover a purchaser for the manufacturing unit, and China’s Nio, which Audi had a naming dispute with previously, was reportedly thinking about taking it over, however that deal was by no means confirmed by both social gathering, and nothing materialized. Now Automotive Information says Audi has formally ended the seek for a purchaser, which doubtless means the plant will shut its doorways in just a few months.
That can in all probability occur when manufacturing of the Q8 E-Tron, which hasn’t been as large successful as Audi hoped, stops on the finish of February subsequent yr. The explanations behind the Q8 E-Tron’s failure are advanced 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 could possibly be Volkswagen’s first manufacturing unit to close its doorways, however two extra might observe, together with tens of 1000’s of job cuts throughout Europe and a ten% wage lower for the staff that can keep. That is from one other EuroNews report that quoted Volkswagen’s Common Works Council Chairwoman Daniela Cavallo as saying, “All German VW vegetation are affected by this. None of them are secure.”
Audi mother or father 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 have the ability to 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 would 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’s nonetheless an opportunity Volkswagen (and Audi) will hold its overproducing factories open, however it’s 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).
