VW throws lifeline to Brussels plant with Audi plans

0 Comments | AFP, December, 2006

BRUSSELS (AFP) — German car maker Volkswagen offered a lifeline to its Brussels factory, unveiling plans to build its new Audi model at the plant a little more than a week after announcing mass lay-offs. Europe's biggest car maker said in Brussels that it could build the new Audi A1 in its Forest factory in southeastern Brussels, providing up to 3,000 jobs at what is the biggest employer in the Belgian capital.

The announcement comes after the company said last week that it planned to stop producing its Golf model at the factory and cut nearly 4,000 jobs, leading many of the 5,300-strong workforce to predict the total closure of the plant. But after a meeting between incoming chief executive and current Audi head Martin Winterkorn and Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt,...