Start of Production for The New Audi Q8 E-Tron at The Brussels Plant

• Audi Board Member for Production Gerd Walker praises the site’s pioneering role in electrification and sustainable production in all plants
• The electric drives for production are transported from Hungary to Brussels on green freight trains
• Belgian plant has been producing CO₂ -neutral since 2018 and is pioneering for the strategic environmental program Mission:Zero

the first Audi Q8 e-tron rolls off the assembly line at the Audi plant in Brussels, thus establishing the era of the new top model of electric SUVs. Since the start of production of the Audi e-tron , Brussels has been a role model for sustainable production. Around 160,000 units of Audi’s first electric model have been delivered since 2018.

Audi Board Member for Production Gerd Walker emphasizes the importance of the new electric top model for the brand: “With its increased efficiency and range as well as its sharpened design, the new Audi Q8 e-tron  makes a strong statement for electromobility.” location in Brussels as a pioneer for sustainable production: “Brussels has done valuable pioneering work. We learn from the experience of around 160,000 vehicles delivered worldwide. In the next step, this experience will flow into the ramp-up of battery production in Ingolstadt.” Battery assembly in Brussels is considered to be future-oriented for the entire group.

Unlike many of its competitors, Audi is transforming production from within. This is how the 360factory is created, the Audi production of the future, for which Brussels is considered a role model in some areas. For Audi, investments in existing plants are living sustainability – in economic, ecological and social terms. “This Audi approach conserves resources and accelerates our transformation,” emphasizes Walker. For Xavier Ros, Audi Board Member for Human Resources and Organization, Audi Brussels provides valuable insights into the targeted qualification of employees. “The experience that Brussels has had since 2018 can be used across the entire Audi Group.” The Managing Director of Audi Brussels, Volker Germann, also emphasizes the role of the workforce: “To the Audi Q8To build the e-tron  , we not only need our entire infrastructure, but above all our employees, who produce this car as a team with great passion.”

Brussels is a role model for sustainable production

The Audi Q8 e-tron  arrives at customers in Europe and the USA as a certified, balance sheet CO₂ -neutral ¹ car. From 2025, all plants are to produce CO₂ -neutrally as part of the company-wide environmental program Mission:Zero . Brussels, named “Factory of the Future” by the employers’ association Agoria in 2020, has been ready since 2018. The Belgian site has been the world’s first certified CO₂ since the start of production of the Audi e-tron-neutral mass production in the premium segment. The site switched to green electricity as early as 2012. Among other things, Audi Brussels has installed one of the largest photovoltaic systems in the region on the factory premises with 107,000 square meters. The plant generates around 9,000 megawatt hours of electricity from sustainable energy every year. Enough to charge around 90,000 Audi Q8 e-  trons and around 1,881 tons of CO₂ to save The suppliers of the battery cells are also obliged to use only energy from renewable sources during production. The electric drives for production are no longer transported by truck, but by green freight trains from Hungary to Brussels. Since May 2022, there has been rail transport on the approximately 1,300-kilometer route, which saves around 2,600 tons of CO₂ annually.

AUDI AG has owned the site since 2007. In the period that followed, Audi Brussels converted the plant and enabled the production of the Audi A1, which was new to the Audi model range at the time. 2018 saw the birth of the Audi e-tron . In 2021, Audi Brussels produced 43,866 purely electrically powered cars. From the second half of 2023, more than 3,000 employees will also be producing the Audi Q4 e-tron .

New Audi Q8 e-tron with increased efficiency

The optimized drive concept, the improved aerodynamics and the higher charging capacity and battery capacity of the new Q8 e-tron  result in a range of up to 582 kilometers in the SUV and up to 600 kilometers in the Sportback (measured according to WLTP). Audi uses recyclates for some components of the Audi Q8 e-tron  . These materials, processed via a recycling process, reduce the use of resources and ensure a closed and therefore efficient and sustainable material cycle.

Source: Audi