Audi Q8 e-Tron to Be Discontinued as Brussels Plant Set to Close – Report

The Audi Q8 e-tron EV SUV will cease production as Audi’s Brussels plant is set to close next month.

After several years being in production, the Audi Q8 e-tron is finally getting the axe. According to CarScoops, production of this midsize EV SUV is slated to end next month, as Audi’s Brussels plant will be shut down on Feb 28, resulting in approximately 3,000 people losing their jobs.

While the automaker didn’t go into detail on the fate of these 3,000 employees, Audi did mention that both the management and labour recently agreed on a “social plan,” in addition to the voluntary company bonus and the legally required redundancy pay. Combined, Audi claims the combined total of these severance packages should be more than what employees are required to receive.

Commenting on this matter, Audi Brussels CEO Thomas Bogus said, “I am very pleased that, despite difficult negotiations, we were able to reach a fair settlement for the employees.” He added the effort “demanded a lot from all negotiating parties,” but “in the end, everyone focused on the essentials and put the employees at the center of their actions.”

With the Audi Brussels plant closing its doors for good at the end of February this year, this also marks the end of both the Q8 e-tron and Q8 Sportback e-tron, with both EV crossovers calling the Belgium plant its birthplace since 2022. Besides the two Audi EV SUVs, the Brussels plant was also home to some iconic Audi and VW Group models of the past, including the original Volkswagen Beetle back in the 1950s, the Volkswagen Golf, the Audi A3, the Audi A1, and many more.

Apart from the Brussels plant, Audi has also produced the Q8 e-tron in China via a joint venture between VW Group and Chinese state-owned automotive manufacturer FAW Group. Given that the FAW-VW’s Changchun is only tasked with producing the Q8 e-tron mainly for the domestic consumption, this could mean that China will be the only market to produce the EV SUV in the whole world.

News of VW Group scaling down its European-based production efforts has been looming for quite some time, with the automotive giant previously announcing plans to reduce its annual production output by 734,000 units while cutting more than 35,000 jobs in Germany to keep afloat.

While we’ve been told about this downsizing for a while now, the Financial Times recently reported that VW Group is open to allowing any Chinese automakers to take advantage of their excess capacity. Should any Chinese automakers be interested in this venture, it could potentially result in Chinese EVs being manufactured at VW plants around Europe, thus possibly exempting them from the European Union’s Chinese EV tariffs.