It is difficult to find buyers for the electric car. Therefore, the Audi Q8 e-tron goes out of production. In the worst case, it means closing the factory in Belgium.
The Audi Q8 e-tron will soon be a thing of the past. In the coming time, the absolute last copies of the car will be assembled at the brand's factory on the outskirts of Brussels.
Audi wants to stop production prematurely because there are simply too few customers in the segment. A name change last year has also not been able to prevent sales from plummeting.
– With the ramping up of the new models on the Premium Platform Electric, the company is now experiencing a drop in demand for the Q8 e-tron. This has resulted in a sharp drop in incoming orders, writes Audi in a press release .
Boosted has previously told about the situation at Audi's factory in Belgium. One of only two car factories left in the whole country. In April, 371 employees lost their jobs. Incidentally, it was the first time ever that Audi had to fire people in Belgium.
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– The deliberations are accompanied by long-term structural challenges at the facility in Brussels: The layout of the facility is difficult to change due to the production facility's special location near the city center.
– There are also high logistics costs. Overall, this leads to high production costs in Brussels compared to other facilities, adds Audi.
Audi Q8 e-tron, or simply e-tron as the car was originally called, was Audi's first electric car when it came out in 2018. The model was one of the few competitors to Tesla, but now the older German has lost its breath in a market , which has an awful lot of speed.
However, the fact that Audi is now considering disappearing completely from Belgium does not mean that the decision has been made. At least not yet. This is emphasized by the factory's director, Volker Germann.
– The announcement of the intention does not mean that a decision has been made. Nevertheless, this news has been received very heavily among the staff in Brussels and also by me.
– A transparent and constructive dialogue is important in the subsequent process. We will take all perspectives into account, says Volker Germann, Managing Director of Audi Brussels.
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