Audi announces the definitive closure of the Brussels plant next February

The Audi plant in Brussels, located in the municipality of Vorst, will finally close its doors at the end of February 2025, thus becoming the first plant of the Volkswagen Group to cease operating in Europe in decades. Audi itself has communicated this decision this past Tuesday, both to the plant’s 3,000 employees and to the unions.

The Brussels plant, formerly known as Volkswagen Vorst, has been responsible for producing the group’s emblematic models, from the 1949 Studebaker to the somewhat more recent Audi A1. Currently, the only vehicle coming off the plant’s assembly line is the Q8 e-tron, including its Sportback variant. A model whose production will be moved to Mexico.

The decision to close the plant is the result of multiple factors. The first is the plant’s location itself, situated alongside a railway line that limits its expansion and internal logistics. On the other hand, the production volume of the Q8 e-tron, as a consequence of low demand, has been far below the plant’s capacity, which has been underused. In 2023 only 37,400 units were produced, and projections for 2025 are even lower.

Plan B to avoid the plant’s closure also failed

Despite everything, as we already told you a few weeks ago here at HighMotor, Audi tried to attract investors to keep the plant operating. And although as many as 26 interested parties were reported, none of them was considered a viable alternative by Audi. This situation is further aggravated by the instability of other Volkswagen Group plants in Germany, which also face the threat of being closed.

The closure of the Brussels plant is not only a hard blow to the local economy, but also to the workers. Although Audi has committed not to carry out any layoffs until 28 February, the future employment of these workers is very uncertain. The end of production at this plant is, moreover, a faithful reflection of the enormous challenge facing the European automotive industry as a whole, in the face of the inevitable transition to electric mobility and the growing competition from new manufacturers, especially Asian ones, which until quite recently did not even exist.