Industry > Automotive Industry Overview

Automotive Industry of the Netherlands

Regional and market specifications

The automotive industry in the Netherlands employs approximately 45.700 people divided over OEM's, suppliers, R&D institutions and other automotive companies.

Overall, the automotive industry is one of the main industries in The Netherlands. The main drivers of the Dutch economy are sectors like transport/logistics, trading and services. Manufacturing industries are less dominant within the Netherlands compared to other European countries. Within the manufacturing industries, automotive is one of the main industries.

Geographically the automotive industry is concentrated in the south-eastern part of the Netherlands (over 50% of the Dutch automotive employment is to be found here) and also the mid-eastern part of the Netherlands is home for many automotive companies. For these regions, automotive is an important industry for employment and innovation.

The automotive industry in the Netherlands is part of a broader automotive region including Belgium/Flanders and North Rhine Westphalia ( Germany). For future development this cross-border region and especially the triangle Leuven-Aachen-Eindhoven will become of major importance for innovation.

Vehicle Manufacturers

The prospects for Dutch vehicle manufacturers are good. The production of trucks and buses has increased every year since 1997. DAF Trucks has seen strong growth in volume and market share in recent years, becoming one of the top European heavy-duty truck manufacturers (>14% market share in EU). In The Netherlands DAF Trucks develops, designs and assembles complete trucks, including engines, for markets all over the world. Moreover, the Netherlands is home to Scania's largest assembly plant. Two more niche manufacturers produce customised heavy-duty trucks mainly for the Dutch market: Ginaf and Terberg. There are also many trailer manufacturers in The Netherlands (eg. Nooteboom, Broshuis, Jumbo).

The coach and bus builders of the Netherlands are concentrated in the VDL group. The group produced approximately 3.200 busses in 2008 and the bus companies within the VDL group jointly employ over 1.600 people. The products are sold under brand names as Bova and Berkhof. The group has a European market share of 10% and is the largest independent (not owned by a truck manufacturer) coach manufacturer in Europe. VDL also developed an intelligent transport vehicle (the Phileas bus) best to be compared with a tram. The vehicle makes use of electronic guidance, has a hybrid powertrain system of a combined CNG/LPG/Diesel engine with an electric powertrain. It has been developed to drive unmanned, following a pre-programmed route via magnets in the road surface that mark out the route for the guidance system.

In the south of the Netherlands, NedCar is home to production of the Mitsubishi Colt and Outlander, and in 2010 the Citroën C-Crosser and Peugeot 4007. This production plant with an annual production capacity of 185.000 vehicles and a very high automation level, also attracts a high number of suppliers to the region. Furthermore The Netherlands is home to several high-end niche (sports) car producers such as Spyker Cars, Carver and Donkervoort.

Suppliers

The automotive supplier landscape is very diverse and includes transplants from foreign suppliers around the NedCar plant, whose main function is local sub-assembly, and jobbers that process metal and plastic parts.

However, the backbone of the supply sector is composed of specialised system suppliers, like Inalfa Roof Systems, Philips, NXP, Polynorm, TomTom, Polynorm, Bosch Transmission Technology and others. Companies whose roots lie in The Netherlands but which have expanded to become part of an international corporate group.

Another strength of the Dutch supply sector is the presence of some large raw material suppliers like DSM, GE Plastics and Corus, all relying heavily on the automotive industry for their output.

The automotive supply industry operates on a highly international level, with the majority of purchases coming from abroad, with high export percentages and with international partnerships for development. The Dutch automotive suppliers realise approximately 90% of their sales abroad. Most important export area is Germany, followed by France and Belgium. A strong international orientation was necessary to realise growth since the number of Dutch automotive manufacturers is limited.

The importance of strengthening local networks as a basis for innovation has been on the strategic agenda for many years now, and through the foundation of an adequate automotive cluster organisation (Federation Holland Automotive / Automotive Technology Centre) the network has been gaining strength in a high pace.

Research, Development and Engineering

R&D expenditure has increased in the Dutch automotive supply industry in recent years. One of the reasons for this is that companies are increasingly developing and producing components according to the functional demands of their customers - manufacturers and large first tier suppliers - that are shifting R&D responsibility to their suppliers.

In the Netherlands there are around 14 major centres for research, development, testing and engineering. The most prominent institute for applied automotive research is TNO (25% of the activities of TNO are related to automotive industry). The focal automotive areas/products are: Powertrains, Integrated Safety, Homologation, Crash testing, Delft-Tyre and Pre-Scan.

Testing

The automotive sector is particularly dynamic and continually responsive to new trends and developments. However, as product development becomes increasingly more complex, development paths are shortening.

• PDE Automotive can perform a wide range of testing for performing functionality and durability on complete vehicles, subsystems and components in their fully equipped 12,000 square metres testing facilities.
• TNO BU Automotive has new state-of-the-art testing facilities that support innovation and type approval:
  • VeHIL lab (Vehicle Hardware In the Loop): research and testing of active safety and intelligent vehicle systems.
  • Powertrains: focus on the reduction of emissions and CO2 and on advanced powertrains such as hybrids. The newest facility is the climate chamber where entire vehicles can be tested at various altitudes and temperatures.
  • Homologations lab: testing for type approval of children’s seats, seatbelts, mechanical anti-theft devices, helmets, etc.
• TÜV Rheinland TNO Automotive International (TTAI) is a leading European centre for passive vehicle safety testing:
  • Full-scale testing facility with a length of 160 metres enabling to perform both passenger car and heavy duty vehicles as well as car to car / truck tests, all indoors
  • Inverse sled facility with a payload of 3000 kg
  • Pedestrian & Interior protection and component testing facility
  • Road furniture tests such as tests for lighting columns, guardrails and barriers

Just over the border in Belgium and Germany, more high-tech testing facilities are available and include Flanders’ DRIVE in Lommel, LMS International NV in Leuven and Forschungsgesellschaft Kraftfahrwesen mbH Aachen (FKA) in Aachen.

Education

Automotive academic technical education is concentrated at the Technical University of Eindhoven. Automotive specialisation has been organised within the faculty of Mechanical Engineering. The following disciplines have been selected as specialisation:

• Drivelines
• Vehicle safety
• Combustion engines
• Vehicle dynamics

Furthermore there are 3 automotive Universities of Applied Sciences in The Netherlands. These universities are located in Arnhem, Eindhoven and Rotterdam and offer specialised curricula in automotive engineering , automotive management and automotive education.