Volkswagen’s next-generation electric vehicle factory is on the brink of collapse

People are angry, cars aren’t being sold and now, for the first time, Volkswagen is set to close one of its plants in Europe – the state-of-the-art factory in Brussels that makes the Audi Q8 E-Tron.

In September, Volkswagen-owned Audi said it wanted to stop production of the Q8 E-Tron – an €80,000 electric SUV that almost no one in Europe can afford – and put the factory up for sale. Meanwhile, VW has been looking for investors or other alternative solutions, with the company now saying that none of the 26 interested parties have offered any viable solutions for the factory’s future, as reported by Automotive News Europe.

An internal search within the company for future automobile production or alternative uses for the plant was also deemed unsuccessful, according to the report. “It is important to me that we quickly create clarity in the information and consultation process and now focus even more on social plan discussions,” said Audi COO Gerd Walker. Automotive News Europe. “We will continue to pursue this in a credible, objective and fair manner.”

On the one hand, we can’t ignore the Q8 E-Tron’s dismal sales figures, with the 120,000-vehicle capacity factory reaching its peak in 2022 with 47,900 cars, compared to 37,400 Q8 E-Trons last year. This year, Audi delivered 23,900 vehicles.

But other issues also affected the Belgian factory. For one, it is located on a railway line, which makes expansion impossible, and there is no workshop on site, which means that imported body components have to be supplied by other factories. The Q8’s successor will be manufactured in Mexico and Audi does not plan to transfer any new models to the Belgian factory.

The 3,000 factory workers employed there are likely to lose their jobs, which is provoking resistance from unions who argue the company is too resilient to consider other offers. “The only thing they want is to close the factory as quickly as possible,” said Ronny Liedts of the ACV-CSC union, quoted in Automotive News Europe. “None of the alternatives work for them.”

Last month, large demonstrations blocked the Belgian capital over the potential closure of the factory, with unions warning of further strikes and protests. Now the factory has become a symbol of what protesters say is the real problem: It’s not that people don’t want to drive electric vehicles, it’s that European automakers are focusing on large SUVs that the average person doesn’t want. can pay.

“Car manufacturers wanted to make big immediate profits from electric vehicles and did not accept that the transition phase would generate less dividends and profits,” said Hillal Sor, union member at Metallos FGTB. Euronews. “So they bet everything on large, very luxurious and very expensive models, which European citizens cannot afford.”

Sales figures prove this: in the first eight months of this year, around 902,000 electric cars were purchased in the European Union, representing just 12.6% of the total number sold. To support the transition to EVs, unions say they are pushing for more public funds. The European Parliament agreed last month to consider tariffs on Chinese EVs, and other protectionist measures are on the table.

Meanwhile, VW’s huge excess production capacity at its German facilities is forcing the company to consider, for the first time, closing a factory on its own territory.

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