Audi's plant in Belgium's capital assembles a €80,000 electric SUV, which is too expensive for Europeans. After 2025, production will likely relocate to Mexico, and workers and unions are not happy. A state-of-the-art car factory in Belgium making Volkswagen models since 1949 has become symbolic of an all-too-apparent trend: European plants that produce electric cars are too expensive for the EU market and its demands.
Audi now wants to stop production, and this plant in Brussels' Forest municipality will be put up for sale. As the factory's communications director Peter D'hoore explained to Euronews, they're facing two choices: either convert the factory to produce other Volkswagen group models and components or sell it to another car manufacturer. None of the solutions are that simple: the proposals that have come in so far have struggled to match Volkswagen's criteria for potential buyers or investors.
"Only one potential investor has agreed to rework his offer, and now he will have some time to do so. It is important to us that as many people as possible remain employed at this site," said D'hoore.** In Brussels, Audi employs 3,000 people plus another 1,000 in related industries, and the unions are on a war path: they are asking the company not to pick the highest bidder but only to sell to someone who will guarantee the greatest number of jobs.
After a massive rally that the Belgian capital in mid-September, unions threatened with more strikes and protests. They are vo.