Audi on Wednesday began A3 five-door Sportback production at the former VW plant in Brussels threatened with closure six months ago.
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“The plant was being written off as dead… The future now looks bright, especially for the workers of Audi Brussels,” Belgian prime minister Guy Verhofstadt, who had intervened in a bid to secure the plant’s future, told the assembled guests, according to a Reuters report.
The news agency noted that plant workers had gone on strike for seven weeks from November over Volkswagen’s plans to stop making the Golf model in Brussels and to slash the workforce to just 1,500 from more than 5,000.
VW unit Audi said the new plant was essential for achieving its strategic goal of building 1.5m cars a year by 2015, Reuters said.
The plant also is scheduled to begin production of the new small A1 at the end of 2009.
The plant’s total output of the A3 and other models is expected to be around 84,000 units this year, Reuters added.
