The Belgian Federation of Automotive Manufacturers and Importers Febiac has a new president. Freddy De Mulder (67), after a long career in the automotive business, takes over from Philippe Dehennin as of 21 June.

After a Ph.D. in Economy, Freddy De Mulder began his career at Ford, but very soon, he switched to General Motors/Opel, where he climbed the proverbial career ladder.

Just before the new millennium (’96-’99), he worked for GM Europe in Rüsselsheim in the purchasing department; after that (and for a long period), he was responsible for Opel marketing and sales in the Benelux.

Between 2004 and 2007, De Mulder also headed the Opel plant in Antwerp, at full bloom in that period and an example for all other GM factories worldwide. We all know how this ended in 2010.

Although he stayed at Opel Benelux until 2012 and later headed the sales activities of GM in a bunch of smaller European markets, the closing of the Antwerp plant and its inevitable human toll and other reorganizations in his beloved GM made him finally leave the company.

De Mulder became the coordinator and a driving force at Ondernemers voor Ondernemers (OVO), a network of Belgian entrepreneurs and business people who were prepared to share their knowledge, experience, and support with African entrepreneurs that wanted to stimulate the local economies in their developing countries.

Febiac

But De Mulder, apparently, has never let his first (automotive) love out of sight. During his period as Opel plant director, he was also very active at Febiac, and now his former colleagues have called him back.

Freddy De Mulder is going to head a federation in full transition because the automotive sector itself is changing rapidly. As the 14th chairman of Febiac, he will have a hell of a job repositioning his organization and representing a sector in turmoil.

“I’m very enthusiastic about leading Febiac at this crucial period for the car and two-wheeler industry,” he declared. “I’m determined to overlook and stimulate the good collaboration of Febiac with all stakeholders in the sector, from industry to environmental organizations and everybody in between. We have to strive for a common vision of a more sustainable and innovative mobility that, at the same time, has to stay accessible to everyone. We will find intelligent and sustainable solutions for the challenges we’re facing.”

His predecessor, Philippe Dehennin, who led Febiac for six years, will become honorary president of the federation. “Febiac has the chance to lean on a new president who combines his experience within the entire automotive sector with the one at the federation level. For years, he has already been the treasurer of Febiac and was deeply involved in its activities at the time.”

Febiac itself is in an important transformation phase. Where it has seen the largest part of its financial funding evaporate because of the pandemic (no motor shows anymore for several years), it had to change course. Lately, this has been accentuated by the fact there will also be no Brussels Motor Show in 2024. The remaining question is if the BMS will ever return and how it will look in the future. The big cash cow seems to have died.

De Mulder inherits a leaner federation in transition that has to refocus on its core business: processing data, being the knowledge center for automotive affairs and communicating about and representing the automotive industry and its views about the future.