The province of Limburg is disappointed in the announced departure of BMW from the VDL Nedcar car factory in Born. The Limburg deputy Joost van den Akker (VVD) spoke of “terrible news” on Thursday. The province remains committed to preserving the thousands of jobs in the automotive sector. Van den Akker has discussed this with the Ministry of Economic Affairs and VDL Nedcar.
“This makes it all the more important to bring in new manufacturers,” said Van den Akker. “We are now focusing everything on that.” He pointed in this connection to plans by the province to enable expansion of the company to bring in other car brands. The province creates the planning conditions for this. The Provincial Council will take a decision on this on 11 December.
Van den Akker said that VDL Nedcar had lost revenue of € 700 million due to corona. At the same time, he said BMWs will be built in Born for another three years. “If it were up to us, cars will still be built after those three years,” he said. “Nedcar is known for its flexibility and quality. The company recently won another prize and became the third best car factory in Europe. In the future, cars must be greener and lighter. Nedcar can show its strength there. I have everything there. trust in.”
About 5000 people still work at Nedcar. Van den Akker could not say how many indirect jobs at suppliers will be lost. According to VDL, however, the rule of thumb is often used that the number of indirect jobs associated with the car factory is double the number of direct jobs, which amounts to about 10,000 jobs.