The well-known Brabant car entrepreneur Piet Lathouwers has passed away in his hometown of Den Bosch. This is reported by industry association Bovag, of which Lathouwers was an honorary member.
‘s-Hertogensbosch was not only the last residence of Piet Lathouwers, it is also where the family business started in 1848 building and repairing carriages for customers at home and abroad. Reportedly, the first bus in the Netherlands, which serviced the Utrecht-Harmelen line, also came from the Bossche workshop. In the first half of the last century, Lathouwers started importing cars from General Motors, which resulted in dealerships of Opel and Chevrolet.
Piet Lathouwers made a special contribution to the Dutch car world by bringing the car lease phenomenon, which became common in the United States in the 1950s, to our country. Most Dutch companies looked at this with a skewed eye, but Lathouwers persevered and that resulted in Autolease Holland in the early 1970s. In addition to his companies, Lathouwers was also active on the board of Bovag.
Piet Lathouwers was 92 years old.
– Thanks for information from Autoweek.nl