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Audi Brussels says goodbye to the Audi A1

The Audi A1 was an unmitigated success story for the Brussels production site: and the last of these first-generation Audi A1s drove off the assembly line on Wednesday. It is making way for the Audi e-tron; the first fully-electric Audi, which will celebrate its début in the autumn. Customer of the last Audi A1 manufactured for the Belgian market, Ensy Belis, was handed the keys to her Glacier White Audi A1 1.0 TFSI Sportback in a symbolic ceremony at the Brussels plant. She was officially welcomed by Audi Brussels' General Director, Patrick Danau, the management board and social partners of Audi Brussels, as well as representatives from Audi Import (D’Ieteren).

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The commencement of Audi A1 production back in May 2010 and the Audi A1 Sportback a year later, marked the beginning of a new era for the car plant. In 2012, the Audi A1 quattro was produced in a special limited edition of 333 vehicles and, at the beginning of 2014, the powerful Audi S1 and Audi S1 Sportback reinforced the A1 family. In the nearly 70-year history of the manufacturing site the Audi A1 was the first model to be exclusively built in the European capital. This assured the Audi Brussels production site a pivotal role in the Audi group.

“The Audi site in Brussels is an extremely reliable and successful partner. Its employees have been manufacturing our smallest Audi for the past eight years, achieving outstanding results and making the site extremely competitive worldwide,” says AUDI AG Director of Production and Logistics, Peter Kössler.

“This is my first ever Audi’’, enthuses customer, Ensy Belis. “When I ordered the car, I never imagined that I would take delivery of one of the last Audi A1 cars to be manufactured in Brussels.”

The first generation of the Audi A1 family has impressed customers worldwide. Audi Brussels produced a total of 909,152 Audi A1s and Audi Sportbacks, including 13,327 Audi S1s. This highly-successful compact model was available in more than 20 colours, the most popular being Glacier White, Brilliant Black, Amalfi White and Misano Red respectively. The largest markets for this Audi A1 generation were Germany, Great Britain, Ireland, France, Italy and Spain. With more than 30,000 Audi A1s nationwide, Belgium is in eighth place in the worldwide rankings.

Numerous esteemed guests have visited the Audi site in Brussels over the years, including the Belgian royal family, the former President of the Federal Republic of Germany, Joachim Gauck, and DTM icon, Mattias Ekström. “Such intense interest proves that we have set new standards with the manufacture of the Audi A1 in Brussels. And our success story continues. We are ready to commence serial production of the Audi e-tron in our CO2-neutral plant”, says General Director of Audi Brussels, Patrick Danau. The second generation of Audi A1 will, in future, be manufactured in the Martorell production site in Spain.