Audi Takes ‘Painful’ Decision to Close a Factory

Whereas the mother or father firm, Volkswagen Group, continues to be contemplating whether or not to shut factories in Germany, Audi has taken this drastic resolution in Belgium. The manufacturing facility in Brussels will shut up store on the finish of February. Consequently, the Q8 E-Tron and Q8 E-Tron Sportback are being worn out from the lineup. As a consequence of poor gross sales, the 2 giant electrical SUVs should not producing sufficient demand to maintain the plant open.

Audi had tried to discover a purchaser for the manufacturing facility however to no avail. There have been rumors that Chinese language automaker Nio was fascinated about buying the Brussels manufacturing facility, however CEO William Li subsequently denied the reviews in September. Reuters cites Gerd Walker, Audi board member and head of manufacturing, saying: “The choice to shut the Brussels manufacturing facility is painful. Personally, it was the hardest resolution I’ve ever needed to make in my skilled profession.”

The Q8 E-Tron began its life in 2018 when it debuted with simply the E-Tron moniker to function Audi’s first sequence manufacturing world electrical automobile. The swoopy Sportback by-product arrived a couple of yr later. Each earned the “Q8” prefix on the finish of 2022 when the 2 EVs underwent a mid-cycle facelift. The manufacturing facility in Belgium’s capital has been making the Q8-badged fashions since December 2022. The final automobiles might be assembled on February 28, 2025, in accordance with firm spokesperson Peter D’hoore.

In 2023, Audi bought 49,001 items of the Q8 E-Tron, down 4.3% from the earlier yr. Nonetheless, the Brussels website has a most annual capability of 120,000 automobiles, so it’s straightforward to see why the mathematics didn’t work out in favor of the electrical SUV. Based in 1949, the plant has slightly over 3,000 staff and is claimed to be the “world’s first carbon-neutral high-volume manufacturing plant within the luxurious phase.”

Audi had supposed to go absolutely electrical by 2033, however now it desires to remain “versatile,” per CEO Gernot Döllner. Staying throughout the VW Group, Bentley has pushed again its EV-only agenda a few instances already. It initially mentioned it will abandon vehicles with fuel engines by 2030 earlier than readjusting its aim for 2033. The most recent plan requires an solely electrical lineup by 2035.

The core VW model wished to be utterly electrical in Europe as early as 2033. Nonetheless, it lately admitted that the current-generation Golf may keep till 2035. That’s when the EU plans to ban gross sales of latest vehicles with dangerous emissions, successfully ending the inner combustion engine. Regardless of the Group has in retailer for the principle VW model, logic tells us that SEAT/Cupra and Skoda will observe go well with.