General Motors in Belgium

Jacobs, A. J.

doi:10.1007/978-3-030-17431-6_5

A. J. Jacobs²

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Abstract

This chapter chronicles GM’s history in Belgium beginning with its three small pre-World War II assembly warehouses near Antwerp’s city center. It then focuses on the American automaker’s Noorderlaan-1 and Noorderlaan-2 factories, the latter of which unexpectedly closed its doors at the Port of Antwerp’s Churchill Docks on December 15, 2010. The chapter concludes with a brief discussion of General Motors’ exiting of Europe through the sale of its Opel/Vauxhall assets to PSA Peugeot Citroen of France in 2017.

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Notes

1.
WSJ (1924); GME (2001–2009); GM (2005); Wernle (2008), GM Belgium (2010); Fourie (2016); Jacobs (2017); the original Berlin plant was in the city’s Wittenau ortsteil (district), but by the end of that year GM had moved to a bigger plant in Berlin’s Borsigwalde district. Both are situated within the city’s present-day Reinickendorf bezirke (borough).
2.
Ibid.
3.
Ibid.
4.
GM (2005); GM Belgium (2010).
5.
Ibid.
6.
AP (1928); Fourie (2016).
7.
New York Times (1929); GM (2005); GM Belgium (2010); Jacobs (2017). In 1931, GM purchased Opel’s remaining 24% share.
8.
New York Times (1935); GM (2005); GM Belgium (2010); Fourie (2016); Jacobs (2017).
9.
Ibid.
10.
GM Belgium (2010); Fourie (2016); Opel Belgium (2019).
11.
AP (1965); Jones (1965); O’Toole (1965); Reuters (1965); Cook (1967); GM Belgium (2010); Belgium (2017–2018).
12.
Ibid.
13.
Ibid.
14.
GM Belgium (2010); Opel Belgium (2019).
15.
Ibid.
16.
AP (1973); Halloran (1973); Smith (1973); Eder (1973); Reuters (1973).
17.
GM Belgium (2010); Belgium (2017–2018); Opel Belgium (2019).
18.
Ibid.
19.
Ibid.
20.
Ibid.
21.
Ibid.
22.
Ibid.
23.
Bloomberg News (1997); GME (2001–2009); GM Belgium (2010); Belgium (2017–2018). The manufacture of car bodies and other components for the Vectra B continued in Antwerp until December 2002.
24.
GME (2001–2009); Belgium (2017–2018).
25.
GME (2001–2009); Fuhrmans (2009b); GM Belgium (2010); BBC (2012); Jacobs (2017); Opel Belgium (2019).
26.
Burt (1999); GM Belgium (2010); Belgium (2017–2018).
27.
GM (2003); GM Belgium (2010); Belgium (2017–2018).
28.
English (2004); GM Belgium (2010); Belgium (2017–2018); Opel Belgium (2019).
29.
Ward’s (1956–2018); GME (2001–2009); English (2004); Gow (2004); Knox (2004); GM Belgium (2010).
30.
Dribbusch (2005); Landler (2005); Belgium (2017–2018).
31.
Ibid.
32.
GME (2001–2009); GM (2009): GM Belgium (2010); Belgium (2017–2018).
33.
Bunkley (2006); GM Belgium (2010).
34.
IHS Markit (2007); White and Power (2007); GM Belgium (2010); Belgium (2017–2018).
35.
IHS Markit (2007); White and Power (2007); GM Belgium (2010); Belgium (2017–2018).
36.
Ibid.
37.
WSJ (2007, 2008); Belgium (2017–2018).
38.
GME (2001–2009); GM (2009); GM Belgium (2010).
39.
Ward’s (1956–2018); Dash and Bajaj (2008); St. Louis Business Journal (2008); GM (2009); Jacobs (2017).
40.
Ward’s (1956–2018); Jacobs (2016).
41.
Cimilluca (2009); Dougherty (2009a).
42.
Ward’s (1956–2018); Dougherty (2009b); Jacobs (2016).
43.
Ward’s (1956–2018); Kim and Lawder (2010); Belgium (2017–2018).
44.
Buck (2009a); Dougherty (2009b); Walker and MacDonald (2009); GM Belgium (2010).
45.
Dougherty (2009b); Jacobs (2016); Belgium (2017–2018).
46.
Brenke et al. (2011); Belgium (2017–2018); Germany (2017).
47.
Ibid.
48.
Ho (2009); Rauwald (2009a, b); Belgium (2017–2018).
49.
Buck (2009a, b); Fuhrmans (2009a, b); Maynard (2009); New York Times (2009); Reeds et al. (2009); Stoll and Fuhrmans (2009).
50.
Fuhrmans (2009a); Rauwald and Bjork (2009).
51.
Fuhrmans (2009a); Popa (2009); Rauwald and Bjork (2009); GM Belgium (2010).
52.
Buck (2009a); Madslien (2009); Rauwald and Bjork (2009); Stoll et al. (2009); GM Belgium (2010).
53.
Buck (2009b); Jolly and Dempsey (2009); Madslien (2009); Popa (2009); Stoll et al. (2009).
54.
Fuhrmans (2009c); GM Belgium (2010).
55.
Jolly and Dempsey (2009); Stoll et al. (2009).
56.
Terlep and Stoll (2009); Fuhrmans and Rauwald (2010); GM Belgium (2010); Jolly (2010); Opel (2010–2018).
57.
Fuhrmans and Rauwald (2010); GM Belgium (2010); Popa (2010); Rauwald (2010); Ewing (2012).
58.
Bailey (2010); Flanders Today (2010); Belgium (2017–2018).
59.
DeMorgen (2010); Rauwald (2010); Opel (2010–2018); Belgium (2017–2018).
60.
Ward’s (1956–2018); Opel (2010–2018); Jacobs (2016, 2017); Belgium (2017–2018).
61.
Ibid.
62.
Ibid.
63.
Opel (2010–2018); Ewing (2012); McVeigh (2013); Belgium (2017–2018).
64.
Hope (2014); Belgium (2017–2018).
65.
Automotive News (2017); Belgium (2017–2018); Frost and Taylor (2017); Tobin (2017).
66.
Ibid.
67.
Belgium (2017–2018); Antwerp (2018).

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Department of Sociology, East Carolina University, Greenville, NC, USA
A. J. Jacobs

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Jacobs, A.J. (2019). General Motors in Belgium. In: The Automotive Industry and European Integration. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-17431-6_5

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-17431-6_5
Published: 08 August 2019
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