At a special works council recently, bus manufacturer Van Hool announced over 1,100 jobs will be lost at the company between now and 2027. The redundancies and other job losses are part of the ‘Van Hool Recovery Plan’ the company is introducing to get the business back on track.
The largest number of job losses – about 830 – are planned for this year. Bus production is now being moved to Macedonia, while trailers, industrial vehicles, R&D will remain in Flanders.
Source: VRT News. Read The Article Read This Article, Too
PSR Analysis: Van Hool has struggled recently under the pressure of competition from Chinese manufacturers. Even in the Flanders, home of Van Hool, Chinese bus manufacturer BYD was able to win a public tender for the supply of 300 electric urban busses. The biggest advantage of Chinese companies is the know how and attractive price they can offer on battery powered busses. In recent time, Van Hool has invested heavily in Fuel cells busses, but this move has not pay off.
As reported by our latest CV Link™ database, In 2023, urban busses produced worldwide were still in majority powered by internal combustion engines. However, battery powered vehicles have reached 30% of global production. Fuel Cell urban busses, on the other hand, represented a mere 1.5%.
Source: Power Systems Research CV Link™
Van Hool recently introduced the “A” platform, a battery electric series of Urban busses, but it’s clearly not easy to compete against Chinese OEMs. In 2023, 80% of battery electric busses were made in China, while only 12% were manufactured in Europe (including Turkey).
However, in the days after the announcement of the restructuring, a new way for Van Hool has risen. Latest news reports point to an interest from Guido Dumarey, a leading Belgian entrepreneur, to take over Van Hool, and relaunch the company, retaining the city bus business, and all the employees in Belgium. The situation is in development, and we will monitor it in the weeks to come. PSR
Emiliano Marzoli is Manager European-Operations for Power Systems Research
