While Volkswagen Group is still thinking about whether to close factories in Germany, Audi has actually taken this extreme choice in Belgium. The factory in Brussels will close up store at completion of February. The Q8 E-Tron and Q8 E-Tron Sportback are being cleaned out from the lineup. Due to bad sales, the 2 big electrical SUVs are not creating adequate need to keep the plant open.
Audi had actually looked for a purchaser for the factory however to no obtain. There were reports that Chinese car manufacturer Nio had an interest in getting the Brussels factory, however CEO William Li consequently rejected the reports in September. Reuters mentions Gerd Walker, Audi board member and head of production, stating: “The choice to close the Brussels factory hurts. Personally, it was the hardest choice I've ever needed to make in my expert profession.”
The Q8 E-Tron began its life in 2018 when it debuted with simply the E-Tron name to function as Audi's very first series production worldwide electrical automobile. The swoopy Sportback derivative got here about a year later on. Both made the “Q8” prefix at the end of 2022 when the 2 EVs went through a mid-cycle facelift. The factory in Belgium's capital has actually been making the Q8-badged designs because December 2022. The last automobiles will be put together on February 28, 2025, according to business representative Peter D'hoore.
In 2023, Audi offered 49,001 systems of the Q8 E-Tron, down 4.3% from the previous year. The Brussels website has an optimal yearly capability of 120,000 lorries, so it's simple to see why the mathematics didn't work out in favor of the electrical SUV. Established in 1949, the plant has more than 3,000 staff members and is declared to be the “world's very first carbon-neutral high-volume production plant in the high-end sector.”
Audi meant to go totally electrical by 2033, and now it wishes to remain “versatile,” per CEO Gernot Döllner. Somewhere else in the VW Group, Bentley has actually currently pressed back its EV-only program. The business at first stated it would desert vehicles with gas engines by 2030 before adjusting its objective for 2033. The current strategy requires a specifically electrical lineup by 2035.
The core VW brand name wished to be totally electrical in Europe as early as 2033. It just recently confessed that the current-generation Golf might remain till 2035. That's when the EU prepares to prohibit sales of brand-new automobiles with hazardous emissions, successfully ending the internal combustion engine. Whatever the Group has in shop for the primary VW brand name, reasoning informs us that SEAT/Cupra and Skoda will do the same.
