Nio, a Chinese manufacturer of electric vehicles (EV’s), is said to be considering the takeover of Audi’s Brussels car plant, which is due to shut down.
In early September, Audi and its parent group Volkswagen announced that no new models would be made in the Audi factory in Brussels, leading its closure and putting thousands of jobs on the line.
Until next year, the electric SUV Q8 e-tron will be assembled in the Brussels factory but the company has said demand is too low to keep producing the model there.
Audi is looking for a buyer for the plant and the Chinese car maker is said to be interested. That has come amid a growing trade war between the EU and China, including trade tariffs.
The European Commission has accused Beijing of heavily subsidising the production of EVs and consciously flooding the European market, undercutting domestic manufacturers in a bid to take over the market.
Because of this, the EC has a base tariff of 10 per cent on all EVs from China and in August decided to implement additional tariffs, ranging from 17 per cent to 36.3 per cent.
Chinese companies are now looking to produce cars in Europe in order to bypass the new import tariffs.
It appears Nio is likely to create its own European manufacturing base.
Belgian newspaper De Tijd reported that a delegation from the car company has visited the Brussels factory and was working on an offer to be filed with the Volkswagen group by September 23 at the latest.
There are competitors lurking. Car group D’Ieteren is reportedly interested in the Audi site, using most of it to repair pre-owned cars. That move could save up to 500 jobs, it has been reported.
Nio is said to want to takeover the entire factory to produce its own cars.
The Chinese brand is said to want to build a high-end reputation and compete with the likes of BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Audi.
A special feature of the brand is its batteries. Rather than always charging them in a lengthy process, it has the ability to swap them in three minutes.
“It’s like a flexible and convenient portable power bank to your car,” the company’s website says.
The necessary network of stations where empty batteries could be replaced still needs to be built. After a presence of two years on the European market, local sales have been limited and Nio is making financial losses.
Its stock value has been consistently low for several years and is still declining.
De Tijd noted that Audi had sued Nio for using the names ES6 and ES7 for its models. Audi claimed they were too similar to its own A6 and A7 models and the judge in the case agreed. Nio was forced to come up with new names.
Unions have welcomed the Chinese firm’s proposal for the plant as it could safeguard jobs. Since the news of Audi pulling out was made public, a strike broke out and workers took the keys of around 300 newly made vehicles to use as leverage in talks with the factory leadership over their future. That led Audi to close the factory and cease paying its workers.
The current situation comes amid a wider malaise in the car industry. Recent sales figures released by the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA), published on September 19, showed that new vehicle sales in the European Union have fallen to the lowest level in three years.
