The fate of Audi Brussels hasn’t been decided yet

Specialized news magazine Automotive News communicated this week that the fate of the Audi factory in Brussels was sealed. The factory will be closed, and all 3,000 employees will be laid off. Maybe the spectacular message comes a bit too early. A recent statement by Audi COO Gerd Walker has fueled it.

Until now, Volkswagen Group’s premium brand Audi has failed to find a suitable investor for its troubled electric-vehicle factory in Brussels, raising the risk that the plant could close.

Audi Chief Operating Officer Gerd Walker said none of the 26 interested parties and potential investors, including one recently revised a pitch, has offered a “viable and sustainable concept” for the factory’s future. The brand also said an internal search within the VW Group for future car production or alternative uses for the plant also came up empty-handed.

“It is important to me that we quickly create clarity in the information and consultation process and now focus further on the social plan discussions,” Walker said in a statement on October 16th. “We will continue to pursue this in a trusting, objective, and fair manner.”

No firm decision yet, but…

Ronny Liedts, a negotiator for the ACV-CSC union at the plant, said it’s likely that the 3,000 factory workers will lose their jobs. “The only thing they want to do is close the plant as quickly as possible. None of the alternatives work for them,” he said.

Expectations are gloomy, to say the least, but Audi insists that the final decision hasn’t been made yet. Talks and negotiations are being pursued on three different levels.

Audi is still searching for a potential investor to take over the factory; a working group is still considering whether the factory has any future inside the VW Group, and in October, negotiations started with the workers and their unions about a possible social plan.

At the same time, Audi is restructuring several divisions to speed up decision-making and launch new models more quickly. It’s also pushing ahead with plans to participate in Formula 1 racing starting in 2026. This decision can be questioned if you consider closing a factory and laying off so many people.

VW Group under pressure

So, the chances are growing that Audi’s Brussels site could become the first VW Group plant to close in Europe. The factory has struggled due to poor demand for the Q8 E-Tron, the only model produced there. Its urban and restrained location has also hindered its expansion and logistics updates to make the site more economical.

The site was a pilot factory for the brand when it started producing EVs, and it is one of the most environmentally friendly sites in the VW Group. However, the top German managers would prefer to close a factory outside Germany to reduce their current overcapacity.

Audi is not the only VW Group brand under pressure. Sluggish EV demand, a lack of affordable models, and tech-savvy rivals such as Tesla and BYD have pushed Europe’s largest carmaker into one of its most intense cost-cutting programs.

VW’s massive production overcapacity at its German sites has forced it to mull German factory closures for the first time in its 87-year history and to remove three decades of job security agreements with employees.