Audi Vorst is dismissing 371 temporary employees due to insufficient demand for (expensive) electric cars

At the Audi factory in Forest, the jobs of all temporary employees will disappear. Demand for the Q8 e-tron has fallen sharply. The ABVV submits a strike notice.

At the Audi Vorst works council, management announced that it will terminate the contracts of all 371 temporary employees from April 8, says Franky De Schrijver, union representative at the ABVV. “The demand for electric cars has dropped, especially in the more expensive segment,” the management justified the decision, according to De Schrijver. The factory in Forest only makes the large electric Audi Q8 e-tron. Audi recently launched a smaller, cheaper counterpart to the Q8, the Q6 e-tron, but it is not made in Forest.

Due to the low demand for those cars, the other 3,000 permanent employees will also have to work less and will often be on temporary unemployment. “The factory is not running at the moment,” says De Schrijver. The ABVV has given a strike notice and hopes to negotiate with the management to reduce the figure of 371 dismissals.

The survival of the factory in Forest is in any case threatened, as the Q8 will no longer be made in Forest from 2027. A new model has not yet been assigned. The ABVV expects to know in November whether or not a new model will be allocated. “We meet with management about this every six weeks. Audi traditionally announces in November which series it will produce in which factories.”