According to foreign media reports, on February 28, an Audi factory in Brussels, Belgium, was permanently suspended, which is the latest sign that the European auto industry is in trouble.
After producing internal combustion engine models for 70 years, the factory switched to producing electric vehicles in 2018, which is regarded as the “cradle” of Audi electric vehicles. Meanwhile, the factory is the largest private employer in the Belgian capital, and 3,000 people will lose their jobs after the factory is closed.
However, in the months after the factory finally ceased operation, hundreds of people remained at the factory to clean up and demolish equipment, or handle administrative endings. In recent days, dozens of workers have entered and exited the factory, cleared their lockers and said goodbye.
“The job is very fulfilling and it’s a shame it’s over,” said Florin Tautu, an engineer who came here from Romania in 2011 to renovate the factory infrastructure to meet new production needs.
Another manager said he was hopeful about the future, “but I feel sad for the employees who still have mortgages to pay or whose kids are still in college.”
In response, Audi management said that it has set up a special team at the local employment center to help factory workers find new jobs, and will also hold a job fair in April to provide about 4,000 jobs.
Audi, a subsidiary of German auto giant Volkswagen, has given several reasons for closing its factory in Brussels. Audi said that global demand for high-end electric SUVs has caused demand for Audi pure electric SUV Q8 e-tron produced by the factory to plummet. Audi also mentioned the long-standing structural problems of the former Volkswagen plant, saying it faces high logistics and production costs.
Before the factory was closed, workers at the factory launched a prolonged strike in an attempt to prevent the factory from closure. Some accused Audi of transitioning to electrification too slowly and then focused on an overpriced electric vehicle. “People are being pushed to buy electric cars, but the infrastructure is not yet perfect,” said Jan Baetens, a member of the CSC union.
From the perspective of industry macro policies, the EU has set to gradually stop selling new internal combustion engine vehicles by 2035, and hopes to achieve a quarter of the number of new car registrations by 2025, but this proportion was only 15% in January this year.
European electric vehicle sales have been weak in growth due to the low acceptance of electric vehicles and their high upfront costs in Europe.
“Europe has made the EV market share of 15% in less than five years, but that’s not enough. We have ready-made models to market, but we are facing the problem of stagnation of demand.”
In addition, in terms of electric vehicle innovation, a report released this month by credit insurance company Allianz Trade warned that European automakers have been surpassed by US electric vehicle giant Tesla and Chinese rivals BYD and Geely, resulting in overpriced European cars.
Last year, Audi delivered more than 164,000 pure electric vehicles worldwide, down 8% from the previous year. In China, Audi’s delivery volume fell by 11%.