Audi Vorst rescue “impossible”

A regional task force was put together for the possibility of saving Audi Vorst, involving several federal ministers, but also ministers from the three regions. The plan comes from Prime Minister Alexander De Croo (Open VLD). The regional cooperation of Audi Brussels contrasts with the complete absence of the federal level in the failed rescue attempt of the bus manufacturer Van Hool.

Various agencies went to the meeting on Friday with a list of what is in their toolbox. This concerns, for example, training and innovation support and other financial guarantees. The goal is to convince German owners to allocate a new model to Audi Vorst now that production of the Q8 e-tron will end in 2027. The model is being updated and moved to Mexico. It says something about the challenge Vorst faces. There are many car assembly operations in Mexico and labor costs are very low.

From VW to Audi

Things were already difficult at Audi Vorst when production of the Audi A1 moved to Spain in 2018. Even further back, a crisis occurred in 2006 when the Volkswagen factory lost production of the Golf and the factory had to be bailed out for the first time. This led to the conversion of the VW factory into an Audi factory, with 3,200 fewer jobs than before.

Employment and production at Audi’s Brussels plant have been under pressure again for some time. It is a unionized factory with approximately 3,000 workers on the payroll. The management of Audi Brussels previously decided to stop temporary employment, resulting in the disappearance of 371 temporary jobs. Car production was reduced to better spread the work available. The reduction of these temporary jobs led to a strike notice.

The analysis is that the Brussels factory also has properties. Tax benefits for night and shift work, among other things, would mean that wage costs are no higher than in Germany. Earlier this year, the Constitutional Court cut tax benefits for shift work to pieces, but the government then created a temporary safety net at the proposal of Finance Minister Vincent Van Peteghem (CD&V) that will remain in place until 2026. Temporary employment is also seen as a resource. The question is how many additional benefits are needed to convince Audi to continue in the Forest.

A regular site with good information wrote before Car Week that Volkswagen, of which Audi is a part, is looking for a solution for Audi Brussels. It is unclear what exactly is on the task force’s table. The ministers had to sign a confidentiality clause, a request from the Germans. It is clear that several methods were discussed which will now be developed further. A new task force meeting would be held in mid-May. Until further notice, November remains the deadline Audi would use for a decision on a possible successor to the Q8 e-tron at Audi Brussels. Nothing has yet been heard about a cost benefit analysis of the potential savings. It is also not known what the price and benefits were of the initial bailout of the Brussels plant.