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.