Nobody wants Audi's Belgian factory - total closure imminent

The Volkswagen Group has not found a buyer for the Audi plant in Brussels. Now it will be necessary to negotiate with the 3,000 employees

By: Massimo Grassi

Nov 15, 2024 at 4:01am ET

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The news was in the air, now it is official: the Audi factory in Brussels will close. Despite attempts to sell to other manufacturers, the Volkswagen Group has in fact received no concrete offers and is therefore heading for the definitive closure of the plant.

There were still faint hopes of reaching an agreement with an unspecified manufacturer but, as Audi itself stated in a note sent to AFP, the expression of interest has been withdrawn. Negotiations will now begin with the approximately 3,000 employees and the redundancies that will take place in the coming months.

The story, from the beginning

The fate of the Audi factory in Forest (a municipality on the outskirts of Brussels) was decided at the end of July 2024, with the announcement that production of the Audi Q8 e-tron and Q8 e-tron Sportback would be stopped. Heirs to the e-tron, the first electric car from the company, they are unable to break into a market that still has trouble digesting electric cars, especially since, as in the case of the SUV of the four rings, they have particularly high prices.

The Audi factory in Brussels

Why not move the production of other models there? The problem plaguing the Belgian factory is not only the assembly of unsuccessful cars, but also its proximity to the city centre, an obstacle that makes it difficult to upgrade. Not to mention the high logistics and production costs. It is a sum of elements that led to the certainly difficult decision.

At one point it was thought that NIO might take over from Audi, but without getting into the thick of the negotiations. It then appeared that a commercial vehicle manufacturer was interested, again ending in a deadlock.