Automakers who have invested particularly heavily in the development, development and manufacturing of pure electric cars are being forced to rethink their planning after sales of zero-emission cars plummet.

THE Volkswagen Group warned that it might close the brand’s assembly plant Audi available in Brussels, due to a sharp drop in demand for high-tech electric cars, Reuters reports. Europe’s leading carmaker suffered a severe financial blow, which saw it cut its profit margin target for the current year.

VW has not yet closed any of its factories since closing the Westmoreland plant in Pennsylvania, USA, in 1988.

Automakers have been hit by lower-than-expected demand for EVs. They have invested hundreds of billions of euros in the development of zero-emission cars and the evolution of electric mobility, but sales have not followed the upward trends they predicted when they announced their programs.

Audi had warned shareholders and investors earlier this year that its sales in 2024 would decline and how is it doing great efforts to renew its range with new models and reduce their production costs.

Changing designs for car manufacturers

VW said in a statement on July 9 that the cost of finding an alternative use for the Brussels plant or closing it, as well as other unplanned costs, they will have an impact of up to €2.6 billion in total in the financial year 2024, in its financial budget.

Also, another worrying element for the evolution of electrification is the decision of Mercedes-Benz to slow down the plans to develop the battery factory intended for pure electric cars, due to lower demand for EVsreports Automotive News Europe.

Mercedes-Benz’s prediction that 50% of its sales will be either pure electric models or plug-in hybrids by 2025 is looking increasingly unlikely, Reuters reports.

Mercedes-Benz will wait to see if electric vehicle demand picks up before ramping up battery production, as lower projected EV sales suggest it will no longer need the capacity originally planned for 2030. said Markus Schafer, the group’s chief technology officer.

The luxury German automaker announced in 2022 that it would need more than 200 gWh of battery capacity by the end of the decade and planned to build eight cell factories worldwide with partners, including four in Europe.

However, with EV demand lower than many automakers had predicted, it also forced Mercedes-Benz to revise its plans.

The 200 gWh forecast was based on the assumption that all of Mercedes-Benz’s annual sales of about two million vehicles would be electric by 2030, Schaefer said on July 8.