In recent weeks, we’ve heard a lot about the possibility Volkswagen might close plants in Germany. That has led to strike action as the IG Metall union tries to head that off.
At the same time, Volkswagen's Audi division has decided to close its plant in Brussels, Belgium. The company announced that at the end of February it will close the doors of the facility where the Q8 e-tron and Q8 e-tron Sportback models are assembled. And no, their production is not moving elsewhere. Low sales have led Audi to simply drop them from its production lineup – and close up the plant.
The company has been trying to find a buyer for its facilities, so far to no avail. Reuters quoted Gerd Walker, Audi board member responsible for production, as saying that “The decision to close the Brussels plant is painful. Personally, it's the most difficult I've had to make in my professional career.”
The Q8 e-tron is the all-electric version of the Q8 SUV. It launched in 2018 under the e-tron name. The Sportback version followed. A 2022 mid-cycle redesign brought with it a name change with the addition of the Q8 prefix. The Brussels plant had been manufacturing these two models since December 2022.
The last units will be built on February 28, according to reports.
Last year, Audi sold 49,001 units of the Q8 e-tron. This represented a 4.3-percent drop on the previous year. This figure doesn't sound catastrophic, but for a plant that was expected to produce 120,000 vehicles on an annual basis, it's understandable that the exercise isn't profitable. The factory, which was inaugurated in 1949 after the Second World War, employs 3,000 workers.
The Brussels plant actually produced Studebakers in its early days, until 1960. In the mid-50s, it began to produce its first Volkswagen vehicles, in this case the famous Beetle.