23 November 2012

Belgium Car Production By Make: 1995-2011


Belgium is a small country that builds many cars. The industry has had to deal with several issues that has reduced the number of cars made there. 1) It doesn't have it's own industry so depends on overseas manufacturers staying there, for which it has no control over. 2) Small countries have less political clout, so a plant closure has less negativity. 3) It is a challenge for higher wage countries like Belgium to be competitive against those nations with lower wages.

Looking at car production figures below shows recent decline. Ford is pulling out also in 2014, moving production to Valencia, Spain.

Yr Total Ford Opel Volvo VW Renault
95 1,168,400 385,900 304,500 144,100 202,900 131,000
96 1,144,100 367,600 295,500 143,900 196,100 141,000
97 1,005,000 355,800 301,500 145,500 167,300 34,900
98 951,200 318,500 300,200 151,900 180,600 -
99 917,500 217,900 319,400 149,100 231,100 -
00 912,200 178,800 328,900 120,800 283,700 -
01 1,058,300 349,300 313,600 146,400 249,000 -
02 936,900 261,400 297,600 149,900 228,000 -
03 791,700 205,200 253,900 155,600 177,000 -
04 875,000 193,700 231,500 265,400 184,400 -
05 895,100 179,200 253,100 258,400 204,400 -
06 881,900 234,300 224,300 244,000 179,300 -
07 789,700 276,200 196,300 240,600 76,600 -
08 680,100 281,800 132,400 181,300 84,600 -
09 503,400 188,500 88,900 183,900 42,100 -
10 529,000 185,600 51,600 223,100 68,700 -
11 560,800 178,300 - 265,000 117,500 -
Tot 14,600,300 4,358,000 3,893,200 3,168,900 2,873,300 306,900
Avg 858,841 256,353 243,325 186,406 169,018 136,000

The 1990's production was in the million area, but today about half that. The VW includes Audis in recent times, so the figure refers to VW Group. It has been a settled production in Belgium over the years, but economic times are tighter. Last year Opel, now Ford's departure is big for a little country.

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