Last potential buyer of Audi plant in Brussels jumps ship
Production will cease on 28 February 2025 – and will probably not resume under a different brand. “There is no potential investor for the site, so the active search for an investor is over,” a spokesperson said. The 3,000 employees at the Audi plant in Brussels had hoped for a last-minute solution and have been disappointed. It is not yet known what will happen to the employees, but there will be no premature redundancies before the factory closes next year.
The closure of the Audi production plant in Brussels is not a surprise. Audi repeatedly stated it would close the plant in Brussels, where it currently builds the Q8 e-tron and Sportback variant. However, production will be moved to Mexico, and Audi will not outsource any new models to the Belgian plant. As German sites in the VW Group are now also on the brink of collapse, the chances for Brussels – even with another Group brand – had diminished even further. In mid-September, Audi’s Chief Operating Officer Gerd Walker announced in an interview that the company was focussing on the search for potential investors.
Just a month ago, Audi announced it had not found a suitable buyer for Brussels. There were apparently 26 interested parties and potential investors, but they could not present a “viable and sustainable concept” for the factory’s future. An internal search within the Volkswagen Group for future car production or alternative uses for the plant had also remained unsuccessful.
Brussels is thus the first VW plant in Europe to shut its doors. As Ronny Liedts, the negotiator responsible for the ACV-CSC union at the plant, stated a month ago, it is likely that the approximately 3,000 factory workers will lose their jobs. Liedts also levelled accusations against Audi: “The only thing they want is to close the plant as quickly as possible. None of the alternatives are an option for them.”
Audi had repeatedly criticised the location of the plant, which hindered expansion and internal logistics – both of which were necessary to operate the site economically. The plant is located directly on the railway line, so no expansion areas are accessible. In addition, there is no body shop on site, which is why stand-alone production is not possible in Brussels – important body components have to be supplied from other plants.
However, regardless of the challenges at the site itself, Audi also has a problem with the demand for the model built in Brussels. The factory in Belgium is designed for a capacity of 120,000 vehicles per year. Audi peaked in 2022 with 47,900 cars built in Brussels, compared to 37,400 Q8 e-tron in 2023. According to the VW Group’s Q3 delivery figures, Audi has delivered only 23,900 units of the large electric SUV this year. In August, a media report stated that Audi was only planning to deliver 6,000 vehicles in 2025.
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