Now that mass layoffs are looming at Audi Brussels: What’s the situation with the automotive industry in Belgium?

However, according to transport economist Steve Prost (KU Leuven), the problem must be sought elsewhere. “We have to accept that in Belgium we are on the way to a different kind of economy. Wage costs have simply become too high in some sectors. Incidentally, this development has been going on for 30 years.

According to Proust, employees will increasingly be deployed in other sectors in the future, which will also require increasingly specific training. “In the service sector, for example, and in high-tech companies. Education must also adapt to this. The changes we are now experiencing are simply inevitable.”

Prost does not see the current situation at Audi as a national disaster. “Look at Van Hool, half of the dismissed employees are already working elsewhere. The people at Audi will also find new jobs. But of course the situation remains sad.”

Verhoeven continues to believe in the future of Belgian carmakers. The good numbers from the Volvo plant in Ghent prove it.

“But I advocate a different approach, where electric cars serve a complementary function. We should focus on small cars that can take on some of the tasks of combustion engine cars, but not all of them.”

For example, you drive your electric car to the bakery or to school (shorter distances) and travel longer distances with a diesel or petrol car. “Multiple instead of one”Electric only“Strategy,” Verhoeven concludes.