“Audi” will close the production plant of electric cars in Belgium

German car company Audi plans to stop production of electric cars at a factory near Brussels at the end of next February, the carmaker and union representatives announced on Tuesday.

Audi, part of the German car concern “Volkswagen”, announced its intention to stop production of the “Q8 e-tron” model at the Vorst plant south of the Belgian capital already at the beginning of the year, without specifying a specific date.

The Belgian structural unit of “Audi” has confirmed that from February 28, 2025, this model will no longer be produced in the country, so this factory will be closed, the state trade union CNE announced.

Therefore, this is the first factory that the “Volkswagen” group closed in Europe in the last decades.

“Audi” employs about 3,000 people at this factory.

At the same time, Volkswagen itself this week announced plans to close at least three factories in Germany and eliminate tens of thousands of jobs.

The European Union has set a target of phasing out sales of new cars with internal combustion engines by 2035, but demand for electric cars has been weaker than expected, given slow implementation charging infrastructure for electric cars, was cancelled. government support mechanisms for the purchase of such cars in certain countries and additional uncertainty caused by the introduction of duties on the import of Chinese-made electric cars in several markets.