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The Multiple Roads to VW’s Audi Brussels in Forest

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The Automotive Industry and European Integration

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Abstract

This chapter examines the winding road that helped create Volkswagen’s (VW’s) present-day Audi Brussels factory in Forest, Belgium. It begins with a review of Citroen Belgium, the Town of Forest’s first car plant, which in 1980 was annexed by an encroaching VW Bruxelles factory. It then reviews the origins of Audi Brussels, from its launch as a D’Ieteren Brothers-Studebaker Plant, to VW’s partnership with D’Ieteren and takeover of the factory in 1971, to its near closure and transfer to VW’s Audi division in 2007. The final sections discuss the plant’s post-2007 highlights and speculate on its near future.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Marsh (2006); Belgique Automobile (2012); Reynolds (2012); Belgium (2017–2018).

  2. 2.

    Ibid.

  3. 3.

    Ibid.

  4. 4.

    Ibid.

  5. 5.

    WSJ (1968a, b, 1973); Marsh (2006); Reynolds (2012); Belgium (2017–2018).

  6. 6.

    Freund (1974); Loubet (1998, 2003); Georgano (2000); Jacobs (2016).

  7. 7.

    WSJ (1980); Loubet (1998, 2003); Marsh (2006); Reynolds (2012).

  8. 8.

    Belgium (2017–2018).

  9. 9.

    D’Ieteren (2019); Audi Brussels (2018).

  10. 10.

    VW (1972–2018); Audi Brussels (2017, 2018); Belgium (2017–2018).

  11. 11.

    Ibid.

  12. 12.

    Ibid.

  13. 13.

    Audi Brussels (2017, 2018); Belgium (2017–2018).

  14. 14.

    Jacobs (2017a).

  15. 15.

    Ibid.

  16. 16.

    Ibid.

  17. 17.

    VW (1972–2018); Belgium (2017–2018); Jacobs (2017a, b); Audi Brussels (2018).

  18. 18.

    Ibid.

  19. 19.

    Ibid.

  20. 20.

    Ibid.

  21. 21.

    Ibid.

  22. 22.

    Thomas (2005); EC (2007); Jacobs (2017b).

  23. 23.

    IHT (2006a); Gow (2006a, b); Jurgens (2009); Belgium (2017–2018).

  24. 24.

    Brand (2006); IHT (2006b); DeMunck and Ferraras (2013); Belgium (2017–2018).

  25. 25.

    Ibid.

  26. 26.

    DeMunck and Ferraras (2013); Belgium (2017–2018); Audi Brussels (2018).

  27. 27.

    Belgium (2017–2018); Jacobs (2017a).

  28. 28.

    Ibid.

  29. 29.

    DeMunck and Ferraras (2013); Audi Brussels (2017); Belgium (2017–2018).

  30. 30.

    Wert (2007); Belgium (2017–2018).

  31. 31.

    Jacobs (2017a, b).

  32. 32.

    Ibid.

  33. 33.

    Audi Brussels (2017, 2018).

  34. 34.

    Hope (2015); Belgium (2017–2018); Jacobs (2017a, b).

  35. 35.

    Gibbs (2016); Belgium (2017–2018).

  36. 36.

    Belgium (2017–2018).

  37. 37.

    Belgium (2017–2018); Audi Brussels (2018).

  38. 38.

    Audi (2017); Audi Brussels (2018); Belgium (2017–2018).

  39. 39.

    Belgium (2017–2018).

  40. 40.

    Ibid.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Sociology, East Carolina University, Greenville, NC, USA

    A. J. Jacobs

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Jacobs, A.J. (2019). The Multiple Roads to VW’s Audi Brussels in Forest. In: The Automotive Industry and European Integration. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-17431-6_7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-17431-6_7

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