 | |
| Industry | Automotive industry |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | |
Audi Brussels (before 2008 known as Volkswagen Vorst or Volkswagen Forest) is an Audi manufacturing plant located in Forest, Belgium, a municipality located in the south-western part of the Brussels-Capital Region.
In 1948 Pierre D'Ieteren, scion of a family of industrialists [1] with a long established coach-building business, entered into an agreement with Volkswagen to import cars into Belgium. A little later work began on the construction of an auto-assembly plant, with the first stone of the building laid on 1 September 1948.
In addition to his business as a Volkswagen importer, D’Ieteren had been the Belgian importer before the war of several US brands including Studebaker. A few months after the importation deal with Volkswagen, in April 1949, the first locally assembled Studebaker emerged from what had now become a car factory. Thanks to the partnership between D’Ietern and Studebaker, it became the third most popular American car in Belgium, behind Ford and Chevrolet. [2]
As the auto industry recovered from the hiatus created by war, it was beginning to become clear that in Belgium, as in much of Europe, the future for volume auto-manufacturing lay with smaller cars than those designed for North America, and from 1954 the plant started to assemble Volkswagens alongside the Studebakers. At this time the plant covered an area of more than 314,000 square meters, and the workforce of 750 people were producing approximately 75 cars per day. On 13 May 1960 the 100,000th Volkswagen came off the Brussels production line. Also in 1960, with Studebaker obliged by their delicate financial position to concentrate management attention on their domestic situation, production of Studebakers in Brussels came to an end and the plant concentrated on building Volkswagens and the Porsches which now were also assembled here. [3]
In the two decades till 1970, the business retained its independence and flourished. By 1970 the plant had produced 835,236 cars, of which more than 95% (795,581) were Volkswagen Beetles. More than 2% (21,675) were Studebakers and most of the rest were Volkswagen vans or Porsches. [2] D‘Ieteren surrendered the plant at the end of 1970 after which full ownership transferred to Volkswagen. However, the business continued in the auto distribution business, and in 2012 D’Ieteren remains the distributor in Belgium of the various Volkswagen brands: Volkswagen, Audi, Škoda, SEAT, Lamborghini, Bentley and Bugatti, currently account for 22% of the Belgian passenger car market. D‘Ieteren also owns various car related businesses in Belgium including the "Carglass" windscreen replacement company. [4]
The millionth Belgian produced Beetle was produced in 1974 which was also the year in which D’Ieteren obtained exclusive franchise for the import into Belgium of Audis. A year later, with the western world's appetite for Beetles no longer insatiable, the plant produced its 1,143,464th and final Volkswagen Type 1 in 1975. The plant now switched to production of the company's new Passat model. The Passat was joined at the Belgian plant by the Mk1 Golf in 1980. In the middle of 2001 production of the VW Lupo was transferred from Wolfsburg to the Brussels plant, although by this time customer demand for this model was tailing off and it was replaced on European markets by the Brazilian built VW Fox in 2005. At various stages, the Vorst plant also produced the Audi A3 and the VW Polo.
In 2006 the plant was producing approximately 200,000 cars annually, most of them Golfs. On 21 November 2006 news was revealed that the plant, by now known as “Volkswagen Vorst”, would lose Volkswagen Golf production ahead of 2009 when the current model would be replaced in the company's European line-up by the Volkswagen Golf Mk6. This would be accompanied by the loss of more than 3,500 jobs at the plant which at this time employed approximately 4,500 or 5,000 people. A few days later the company made public its intentions to compensate for the loss of the Golf by producing a yet to be announced small Audi at the Brussels plant. The manufacturer nevertheless made clear that giving the new Audi model to Vorst would be conditional on a 20% improvement in efficiency from the work force, involving moderation of pay, additional hours worked and greater work-place flexibility. The company would also require “public support” for the investment. [5]
A trades union demonstration in December 2006 was joined by between 15,000 and 25,000 people, and considerable political pressure was applied in defence of the auto-industry jobs involved. Sensitivities were already at a high pitch because of the acrimonious closure in 1997 of the Renault plant at Vilvoorde on the north side of Brussels.
During the ensuing period of negotiation the name of the plant was changed to Audi Brussels, and focus switched to production of the Audi A1. [6]
In 2010 the company planned to produce 50,000 Audi A1s with the number at least doubled [7] in 2011. Despite the economic difficulties confronting the European auto industry in 2010, it was reported that the Audi A1 and the supportive approach of the Vorst plant workforce would guarantee 2,200 jobs for the ensuing six years. [8] Towards the end of 2010 the Vorst plant produced its 7,000,000 car, which was, self-evidently, an Audi A1. [9] In the event, the plant produced “about 120,000” A1s in 2011. [10] The plant was re-equipped from 2016 to produce the Audi e-tron from 2018. [11]
Volkswagen, abbreviated as VW, is a German motor vehicle manufacturer headquartered in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, Germany. Founded in 1937 by the German Labour Front under the Nazi Party and revived into a global brand post-World War II by the British Army Officer Ivan Hirst, it is known for the iconic Beetle and serves as the flagship brand of the Volkswagen Group, the largest automotive manufacturer by worldwide sales in 2016 and 2017. The group's biggest market is in China, which delivers 40 percent of its sales and profits. Its name is derived from the German-language terms Volk and Wagen, translating to "people's car" when combined.
The Volkswagen Golf is a compact car/small family car (C-segment) produced by the German automotive manufacturer Volkswagen since 1974, marketed worldwide across eight generations, in various body configurations and under various nameplates – including as the Volkswagen Rabbit in the United States and Canada, and as the Volkswagen Caribe in Mexico (Mk1).
The Volkswagen Phaeton is a full-size luxury sedan/saloon manufactured by the German automobile manufacturer Volkswagen, described by Volkswagen as their "premium class" vehicle. Introduced at the 2002 Geneva Motor Show, the Phaeton was marketed worldwide. Sales in North America ended in 2006 and global sales ended in 2016.
The Volkswagen Santana is a nameplate used by Volkswagen for various sedans and station wagons since 1983. The first generation is based on the second-generation Volkswagen Passat (B2). It was introduced in 1981 while production started in 1983 for China and 1984 for Europe. The use of the "Santana" badge rather than "Passat" echoes the use of different names for the sedan versions of the Polo (Derby) and Golf (Jetta).
Volkswagen Group China is a division of the German automotive concern Volkswagen Group in the People's Republic of China.
Volkswagen Group of America, Inc., is the North American operational headquarters, and subsidiary of the Volkswagen Group of automobile companies of Germany. VWoA is responsible for five marques: Audi, Bentley, Bugatti, Lamborghini, and Volkswagen cars. It also controls VW Credit, Inc., Volkswagen's financial services and credit operations. The company is headquartered in unincorporated Fairfax County, Virginia, near Herndon.
D'Ieteren SA is a company, based in Belgium that is engaged in automobile distribution and vehicle glass repair and replacement (VGRR).
SAIC Volkswagen Automotive Co., Ltd., formerly known as Shanghai Volkswagen Automotive Co., Ltd. is an automobile manufacturing company headquartered in Anting, Shanghai, China and a joint venture between Volkswagen Group and SAIC Motor. It was founded in 1984 and produces cars under the Volkswagen, Škoda and Audi marques. It is the second automobile manufacturing joint venture in China after American Motors and the first German car manufacturer to enter China.
FAW-Volkswagen Automobile Co., Ltd. is a joint venture between FAW Group and Volkswagen Group which manufactures Audi and Volkswagen marque passenger cars for sale in China. It was founded on 6 February 1991.
The Volkswagen Group MQB platform is the company's strategy for shared modular design construction of its transverse, front-engine, front-wheel-drive layout automobiles. It was first introduced in the Volkswagen Golf Mk7 in late 2012. Volkswagen spent roughly $8bn developing this new platform and the cars employing it. The platform underpins a wide range of cars from the supermini class to the mid size SUV class. MQB allows Volkswagen to assemble any of its cars based on this platform across all of its MQB ready factories. This allows the Volkswagen group flexibility to shift production as needed between its different factories. Beginning in 2012, Volkswagen Group marketed the strategy under the code name MQB, which stands for Modularer Querbaukasten, translating from German to "Modular Transversal Toolkit" or "Modular Transverse Matrix". MQB is one strategy within VW's overall MB program which also includes the similar MLB strategy for vehicles with longitudinal engine orientation.
The automotive industry in Germany is one of the largest employers in the world, with a labor force of over 857,336 (2016) working in the industry.
Škoda Auto Volkswagen India Private Limited is the wholly owned Indian subsidiary of German automotive manufacturing company Volkswagen Group.
The Volkswagen Passat (B1) is a large family car produced by Volkswagen in West Germany from 1973 to 1981.
The Volkswagen Passat (B2) is an automobile which was produced by German manufacturer Volkswagen from 1981 to 1988. It was the second generation of the Volkswagen Passat. The platform was slightly longer than the preceding Passat (B1). As with the previous generation, it was based on the platform of the Audi 80; the corresponding B2 version of which had been already launched in 1978. The Santana was also manufactured in China, Brazil, Mexico and Argentina. In Brazil, the Santana station wagon was sold as the Quantum. In the United States, both the Santana sedan and station wagon were sold as the Quantum. The Passat saloon and estate were produced in South Africa for their local market until 1987. The production of Passat B2 in China ended in 2013.
The Volkswagen Passat is a front-engine D-segment large family car manufactured and marketed by Volkswagen from 2005 to 2010 (B6) and from 2010 to 2015. Respectively the six and seventh generation Passat, and internally designated B6 and B7, they were marketed in sedan and wagon bodystyles in front-wheel as well as all-wheel drive configurations, with a range of petrol and diesel engines.
The Volkswagen Golf (Mk7) is a small family car (C-segment) produced by German automobile manufacturer Volkswagen as the seventh generation of the Golf and the successor to the Golf Mk6. It was introduced in Berlin on 4 September 2012, before a public launch at the 2012 Paris Motor Show. Sales in Europe began with the model year of 2013, at the end of 2012.
The Volkswagen Bratislava Plant is an automotive factory and co-located test track owned by Volkswagen Group in Bratislava, Slovakia.
OOO Volkswagen Group Rus was a subsidiary of Volkswagen AG, which grew from an investment agreement signed on 29 May 2006. Its main factory was in Kaluga, approximately 170 kilometres (110 mi) southwest of Moscow.
Volkswagen Group Argentina is the Argentine subsidiary of German automotive manufacturing company Volkswagen Group. It was established in 1980 when the company acquired defunct business Chrysler Fevre Argentina including its two plants in San Justo and Monte Chingolo.
This article incorporates information from the equivalent entries in the French, Flemish and German Wikipedias.