BMW May Takeover Nedcar Plant
Could BMW be acquiring the soon-to-be-shuttered Nedcar plant, which formerly built the Volvo S40 and Mitsubishi Colt? Dutch website Nu.nl seems to think so.
Nu is reporting that Nedcar executives have given tours of the plant to their BMW counterparts, in advance of takeover talks. BMW is especially interested in building the BMW X5, BMW X1 and Mini Countryman at the plant, using the same lines that built the Colt and Mitsubishi Outlander.
BMW is having trouble keeping up with demand for both cars, especially the hot-selling X1, set to make its American debut this summer. Nedcar is capable of a maximum output of 200,000 cars per year, but only produced 23,000 in 2011. Apparently the arrangement would involve BMW renting space from Dutch industrial group VDL, rather than an outright purchase. VDL, based in Eindhoven, would take over the plant assuming BMW uses it for production, and the Dutch government would then have to pay the salaries of 1,500 workers who would be jobless in between Mitsubishi’s 2013 departure and the resumption of production at Nedcar.
More by Derek Kreindler
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GM would be very happy to sell either their Bochum,Germany or Port Ellesmere assembly plant . If BMW buys Bochum,they get to consolidate production in Germany and if they buy Prt Ellesmere, they will get Europe's most productive assembly plant and Opel will be able to breathe easy.
Derek, Being a Dutchman and owning two cars once built there, I've been following this news with major interest. BMW has denied any takeover plans so far, but has admitted it has paid several visits to Nedcar. However, BMW would not be acquiring Nedcar itself. The Eindhoven-based industrial group VDL has already put out a press statement that it has plans to take Nedcar out of Mitsubishi's hands in 2014. VDL has stated that these plans depend on both the willingness of a manufacturer to rent production space (that would be BMW) and the Dutch state providing a year's worth of salaries for the 1,500 employees, since Mitsubishi will leave Nedcar early 2013.
The primary source for all the news was the NOS, the Dutch broadcasting service: http://nos.nl/artikel/367124-vdl-nedcar-praten-over-overname.html VDL Groep's short statement (in Dutch, not yet in English) can be found here: http://www.vdlgroep.com/?news/1051202/VDL+Groep+voert+gesprekken+met+en+over+NedCar.aspx The regional newspaper De Limburger has more details on the proposed deal: http://www.limburger.nl/article/20120428/REGIONIEUWS01/120429569/1008
This is one way to resolve the "European overcapacity problem": sell idle plants to those companies which have products that customers actually want to buy. P.S. Grammar nit of the day: "Takeover" is a noun, the verb form is "take over".