According to the Voice of Heilbronn, Audi is trimming production of the top model A8 at the Neckarsulm facility. Audi should have revealed specific figures, but the amount should be around 1000 automobiles this year, according to the report. Among other reasons, the company would now produce more electric vehicles.
The Audi A8 was updated last year, and there has since been a special edition of the premium sedan explicitly designed for the Chinese market. According to the Heilbronn voice, the plant produces five to ten A8 L Horch automobiles. According to the newspaper's analysis, demand in China, the world's largest Audi A8 market, has recently "decreased dramatically."
Audi will now adapt its workforce capacities in Neckarsulm correspondingly. The impacted personnel will instead work on the Audi A6 (Neckarsulm) and the Audi e-tron GT electric car (Böllinger Höfe Heilbronn).
"The schedule adjustment for the Audi A8 is taking place at the same time as the manufacturing number of the Audi e-tron GT is increasing," according to the newspaper's plant manager Fred Schulze. "As a result, and with the action planning for future launches, we have ample employment at the site for our staff."
The Audi e-tron GT's production will be doubled beginning in January. Since its introduction, Audi has produced over 15,000 battery-powered sports sedans. The A8 sits above it and is only available as a plug-in hybrid.
Audi's decision to shift resources from a combustion engine to an electric vehicle aligns with the Volkswagen subsidiary's plans: the premium brand has stated that it will no longer offer new cars with combustion engines on the global market after 2026. The Bavarian firm intends to phase out combustion engines entirely by 2033.
According to the article, the workers' council and plant management at Audi Heilbronn are also fighting to manufacture the Audi A8's electric successor. The vehicle's manufacturing location should be determined by the beginning of 2023.
