Dutch contract car manufacturer Nedcar says it has signed a new declaration of intent with a new non-disclosed client to assemble or build cars again in Born near the Belgian border from 2026 on.

That would provide 3 000 jobs in the de long term. But het 1 800 lay-offs scheduled in November this year are inevitable. The unions remain skeptical, saying seeing is believing.

Chinees or British clients?

No names of potential new clients were given, but rumors say this could be Chinese BYD or the Britse Gordon Murray Automotive Group. BYD could opt for assembling cars produced in China.

The Brits, a manufacturer of exclusive hypercars, said already in May they were interested in having a ‘large’ model built by VDL Nedcar by 2026. Now two EV SUVs are rumored.

Or could it perhaps be SAIC Motors? The Chinese car manufacturer plans to build a factory for electric vehicles in Europe and is currently looking for a location. SAIC has joint ventures in China with Volkswagen and General Motors that produce electric cars, among other things.

Remarkable timing

No rousing cheer has been heard from the unions so far. Earlier ‘declarations of intent’ resulted in disappointment. And according to Ron Peters of the FNV union, the announcement’s timing is ‘quite remarkable’ as VDL Group is to start negotiations with the Limburg Province on Monday on a 70 million investment for new infrastructure works around the car factory in Born.

According to VDL, the client doesn’t want to reveal its name publicly yet, but preparations for a new production line could already start with 70 employees.

1 800 have to leave anyway

That’s quite less than the 3 950 who are working on the production of the MINI for BMW currently, among which some 700 Belgians. Anyway, 2026 will be too late for the 1 800 employees that will have to leave in November already. Of them, 1 000 permanent and 800 temporary workers.

After weeks of turmoil and several strikes, VDL Nedcar management in Born and the unions buried the hatchet in June. That deal provided a severance pay of the legal one-third of a month’s salary per year of service, multiplied by 1.9 for those working for 15 years or less at Nedcar and 2.9 for those working already longer. According to the unions, this represents a 20% better deal than the original social plan drafted in 2021.

Doing overtime for 6 000 cars

The family-owned VDL Group said it would help its employees to find a new job externally in the region or – only on request of the people themselves – elsewhere within the group’s companies. But so far, little happened, according to the unions.

To compensate for the lost production during the strike, the workers must catch up for the assembly of about 6  000 cars by doing overtime. The latter was a strict requirement of BMW and VDL.