Van Hool job losses

Van Hool announces strategic realignment: around 1,100 jobs are lost | Busworld Europe 2025

Belgium bus and coach manufacturer Van Hool is in financial trouble and has presented the outlines of a "Recovery Plan". This plan would result in the departure of about 1,100 employees over a three year period. The company expressed its intention to strategically refocus its activities. Van...

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Belgium bus and coach manufacturer Van Hool is in financial trouble and has presented the outlines of a "Recovery Plan". This plan would result in the departure of about 1,100 employees over a three year period. The company expressed its intention to strategically refocus its activities. Van Hool says it will engage with customers from various markets, including public transport, "to discuss the implications of this potential realignment" and states that "this change means that the company will be more selective in accepting new orders from public transport".

Furthermore Van Hool says the production of buses and coaches will mainly take place at the plant in Skopje, northern Macedonia. In Belgium Koningshooikt, the IV (Industrial Vehicles) division would focus on semi-trailers requiring a higher degree of expertise and offering higher added value for the customer as well as for Van Hool. The B&C (Bus & Coach) division would keep its knowledge centre, research & development, prototype building and after-sales in Koningshooikt. To support this strategic change of direction, organisation, working methods and number of employees will have to be brought in line. The 1,100 redundancies will be in effect in the period 2024-2027, to implement a necessary restructuring at the Belgium Koningshooikt site.

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Van Hool announces exit from electric bus business and faces unclear future | electrive.com

The Belgian bus manufacturer Van Hool wants to completely discontinue the production and sale of city buses. The company no longer sees any chance of being competitive in the increasingly electric city bus segment. The economic situation is also likely to be very tense.

www.electrive.com

It is difficult to compete with European players such as MAN or Solaris, both of which manufacture vehicles in Poland and are heavily focussed on electric buses, as well as having placed their investments in the technology already. Van Hool recently lost a large order from De Lijn to the Chinese manufacturer BYD, which was 20 per cent cheaper than European bus manufacturers. However, De Standaard also refers to internal disputes within the Van Hool owner family. “The family is very divided internally, which has often led to wrong decisions being made in the past – such as deciding in favour of electric buses too late,” the newspaper wrote on the crisis at the company. In addition, the family had held on to a top manager from its own ranks for too long and had not opted for an external, experienced manager. Marc Zwaaneveld was only appointed as a crisis manager in January.

However, it is not just about a change of strategy for the models and the type of drive, but also about the locations. As a result of the reorganisation, Van Hool will no longer produce many coaches in Belgium, which means that many jobs in the Belgian factory, which employs 2,000 people, are likely to be lost. According to the Belgian media reports, “most or all” of the buses will be produced in North Macedonia. Van Hool already operates a plant there, which has been producing city buses up to now. If their production is discontinued, capacity will be freed up there – and the luxury coaches could be produced much more cheaply there than in Belgium. The calculation here is that Van Hool could undercut the competition on price.

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Towers said:

Unfortunately it’s highly likely that the bus manufacturing industry is likely to see a bit of an onslaught from China in coming years, I would thi

. Whilst their previous attempts with traditional diesel products have barely made an impact, and even then only in the coach sector, european manufacturers seem to be very late to the party where electric vehicles are concerned and this has allowed the competition to steal a march on them. The financial climate being what it is, I suspect that there may be plenty of operators willing to choose price over quality and shun their traditional suppliers in favour of alternative offerings. How long long that will last remains to be seen; certainly there are plenty of reports of those taking a similar path when buying cars coming to regret their decision a bit further down the line when it comes to long term quality, and of course any similar outcome would be magnified in the bus industry where vehicles are expected to built to last. But that won’t stop plenty of sales over the next few years at the very least.

I saw a few months back Excelsior posting publicity pictures on their X/Twitter proudly showing off a new Yutong coach; if even large UK-based businesses are happy to go for this sort of stuff then the domestic & european names really will have a battle on their hands.

Even without going anywhere near the global politics of it all, it’ll be a sad day indeed if our roads become full of bargain basement Chinese PCV products and we see the traditional european manufacturers suffer as a result.

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Van Hool's bankruptcy is done. Announcement of takeover by VDL - Schmitz Cargobull awaited

Bus manufacturer Van Hool has been declared bankrupt. The information has been stated by the manufacturer itself this morning, 8th April

www.sustainable-bus.com

Bus manufacturer Van Hool has been declared bankrupt. The information has been stated by the manufacturer itself this morning, 8th April, and the topic got high attention on local media, in particular from De Standaard. The company is set to be taken over by Dutch VDL and German Schmitz Cargobull, but together they would only have jobs for 650 to 950 Van Hool employees.

The industrial duo is the only remaining candidate, after previously West Flemish entrepreneur Guido Dumarey and Dutch company Vlastuin were also in the running, as was reported last week.

Van Hool announced the plan to stop production of city buses (and relocating business in Macedonia) on 11th March. Later on, the company asked for protection from creditors.

Van Hool bankruptcy is real​

According to trustee Jeroen Pinoy, who has to manage the relaunch of Van Hool, a relaunch by VDL and Schmitz-Cargobull is coming very soon, De Standaard reports. VDL Bus & Coach stressed once again that the interest is mainly in the touring coach division. VDL Group would be indeed particularly interested in Van Hool’s Class 3 bus business, with potential takeover of the US market, where Van Hool has a good foothold through its dealer ABC Companies.

The acquirers have indicated that “in a first phase they will keep 600 to 900 people employed”, he said at a press conference after the special works council, still according to the newspaper.

At the beginning of the press conference, crisis manager Marc Zwaaneveld had also explicitly referred to the role of the owners. “Unfortunately, due to an inheritance dispute, bankruptcy was inevitable,” he said. “At this moment it is over for everyone, an independent Van Hool is coming to an end.”

In a previous interview Marc Zwaaneveld was asked about trambuses for Paris, showcased at Busworld and whose delivery has just began. Well, future is uncertain: “I think those tram buses are technically beautiful, only they cost too much to make. So as with the other city buses, I think we don’t earn enough from them and so it’s better to stop production. It’s up to the acquirer to decide whether to adopt that strategy.”, Zwaaneveld told De Standaard.

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Van Hool declared bankrupt; VDL to take coach and bus activities - routeone

Van Hool has been declared bankrupt by the Commercial Court of Mechelen and its coach and bus activities are to be purchased by VDL Groep.

www.route-one.net

Van Hool has been declared bankrupt by the Commercial Court of Mechelen and its coach and bus activities are set to be purchased by VDL Groep, it has been confirmed.

The news brings an end to weeks of intense speculation around the future of the Belgian manufacturer, which in March published a recovery plan in recognition of its difficulties. Progress on implementing that quickly faltered owing to internal difficulties, and in early April the business announced that it was taking a further week to secure its future.

Bankruptcy was declared on 8 April and the Court appointed four trustees to oversee that formal process. It had been suggested that Van Hool was carrying debt of around €400 million.

In a sombre statement, Van Hool acknowledges that with bankruptcy “an end comes to a leading company in the Flemish manufacturing industry.” It has again highlighted difficulties in securing its future created by “an inheritance dispute” involving shareholders and members of the Van Hool family.

VDL Groep has submitted a binding offer for the Van Hool coach and bus activities. A definitive agreement will be entered into via “a very short timeframe,” Van Hool says. Its trailer activities will be purchased by GRW, competence partner of Schmitz Cargobull, on the same basis.

Hopes remain that under new ownership, operations at Van Hool can restart quickly, although only between 650 and 950 employees are expected to transfer. Headcount was around 2,500 prior to the difficulties, although the recovery plan had called for 1,100 jobs to be shed by 2027.

Further clarity on the future will be provided by the purchasers over the coming weeks. It is not yet clear whether coaches will continue to be manufactured in Belgium and/or North Macedonia under new ownership, or whether the Van Hool name will be retained. VDL says that the conditions of its offer must be met before any further information can be shared.

In a statement after it was declared bankrupt, Van Hool says that sale of the business to VDL and GRW represents “the best achievable outcome for all parties involved, although unfortunately, many employees will have to seek employment elsewhere.”

Early in 2024, Mark Zwaaneveld was appointed Co-CEO alongside longstanding chief Filip Van Hool with a remit to secure the business’s future.

Speaking about the bankruptcy, Mr Zwaaneveld says: “Both VDL Groep and GRW made it clear in their acquisition bids that they highly value the expertise and experience of Van Hool and its employees in the field of buses, coaches, and industrial vehicles.

“We are pleased that these two strong international companies will each integrate a part of the Van Hool Group. In the initial phase, employment is foreseen for between 650 and 950 employees, a workforce that can grow in the long-term. Exact number will be announced in the coming weeks by the two acquirers.”

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F Great Eastern said:

An inheritance dispute has caused it? Really.

Sad to see them swallowed up by VDL, considering how superior VanHool coaches are to VDL's stock.

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Leyland Bus said:

Have you ever been on a VanHool EX? Definitely not their finest hour and miles behind the TX series sadly...

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