Outside an Audi factory in Brussels described by the German carmaker as the “cradle” of its electrification, around 200 picketing workers huddled around a fire in the morning drizzle.
The company is considering closing the plant, a move analysts say is symptomatic of problems plaguing the wider European electric car industry amid weak demand and competition from China.
Audi is a subsidiary of Volkswagen, which earlier this month made the bombshell announcement that it was considering the unprecedented step of closing production plants in Germany.
With 3,000 jobs on the line, workers in Brussels have launched a prolonged strike, with a major demonstration planned in the capital on Monday and walkouts elsewhere in solidarity.
Some sleep in tents outside the state-of-the-art facility, which switched to producing electric vehicles (EVs) in 2018 after 70 years of building internal combustion engine models.
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“They messed with the electricity,” said Karim Chawki, 52, a picketing worker.
“They wanted to innovate. We were going to be a pilot plant, but they drove it into a wall. It didn’t work, and now we’re the ones paying.”
Europe has been scrambling to produce more electric vehicles as part of its green transition as the clock ticks down on the EU’s deadline to phase out the sale of fossil fuel cars by 2035.
But sales have struggled to take off.
New registrations fell six percent from a year earlier across the continent in July, according to the European Union.
This was partly due to the phasing out of some subsidies, but weakening demand fueled concerns about the industry.
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The possible closure of the plant in the Belgian capital was a “first effect” of the challenges facing European carmakers, said Felipe Munoz, an analyst at automotive data firm Jato Dynamics.
Cheaper Chinese vehicles have saturated the market, while consumers are not yet prepared for EVs, which have higher initial costs and tend to depreciate more quickly, he said.
Audi did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Announcing it was considering closing the Brussels plant in July, the company said demand for the high-end Q8 e-tron built there had fallen and the plant suffered from high logistics and production costs.
“Europe is way behind,” said Chawki, an assembly worker with a black beanie and a short, graying beard.
“Have you ever seen Chinese cars? They are much more advanced,” he added, sheltering with others under a union canopy.
A few kilometers away, plans to impose import duties of up to 36 percent on electric vehicles imported from China are being debated at European Union headquarters.
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The EU decided in July to impose additional tariffs after an anti-subsidy investigation concluded that carmakers in China benefited unfairly from government subsidies.
But the move has faced resistance from some countries, including Spain and Germany, which fear damage to trade ties with Beijing.
‘Abandoned’
A report by former European Central Bank chief Mario Draghi last week said the tariffs would “help level the playing field”.
But an “industrial action plan” was needed to help European manufacturers move forward and continue their decarbonisation journey.
“These countervailing duties can give companies a breather,” said Conor McCaffrey, an analyst at Bruegel, a Brussels-based think tank.
“But they will not be enough on their own. Productivity and competitiveness must also be massively increased.”
European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen has promised a new “Clean Industrial Deal” to channel investment into infrastructure and industry in the first 100 days after her new team takes office later this year.
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But that may come too late for Brussels Audi workers facing the prospect of unemployment.
“Their anger is very legitimate, very understandable, especially since Audi is not very clear about its plans,” Bernard Clerfait, employment minister for the Brussels region, told AFP.
The company received about 27 million euros ($30 million) in public funding to help reskill workers when it converted production to electric, he noted.
Belgian unions called for a nationwide strike on Monday to protest potential layoffs, amid rumors of a possible foreign buyer.
“We don’t know anything, they leave us in the dark,” said father-of-one Regis Lauwereyns, 32. “We feel abandoned.”
Source: AFP