BRUSSELS — When Volkswagen Group began its global transition to battery-electric vehicles, it turned to one of its oldest and smallest plants to dip its first toe into the non-ICE-y waters.
The German automaker's Brussels plant, taken over by Audi in 2007, has built more than 8 million vehicles since it produced its first Studebaker in 1949. Its heritage includes nameplates such as the Volkswagen Beetle, Karmann Ghia and Audi A1.
But when it launched the original Audi E-tron in 2018 — the first of what will ultimately be a multitude of nameplates globally across Volkswagen Group's eight brands designed to run exclusively on batteries — the plant and its 3,000 employees also agreed to become teachers.