Belgium is a small country that builds many cars. The industry has had to deal with several issues that has reduced the number of cars made there. 1) It doesn't have it's own industry so depends on overseas manufacturers staying there, for which it has no control over. 2) Small countries have less political clout, so a plant closure has less negativity. 3) It is a challenge for higher wage countries like Belgium to be competitive against those nations with lower wages.
Looking at car production figures below shows recent decline. Ford is pulling out also in 2014, moving production to Valencia, Spain.
| Yr | Total | Ford | Opel | Volvo | VW | Renault |
| 95 | 1,168,400 | 385,900 | 304,500 | 144,100 | 202,900 | 131,000 |
| 96 | 1,144,100 | 367,600 | 295,500 | 143,900 | 196,100 | 141,000 |
| 97 | 1,005,000 | 355,800 | 301,500 | 145,500 | 167,300 | 34,900 |
| 98 | 951,200 | 318,500 | 300,200 | 151,900 | 180,600 | - |
| 99 | 917,500 | 217,900 | 319,400 | 149,100 | 231,100 | - |
| 00 | 912,200 | 178,800 | 328,900 | 120,800 | 283,700 | - |
| 01 | 1,058,300 | 349,300 | 313,600 | 146,400 | 249,000 | - |
| 02 | 936,900 | 261,400 | 297,600 | 149,900 | 228,000 | - |
| 03 | 791,700 | 205,200 | 253,900 | 155,600 | 177,000 | - |
| 04 | 875,000 | 193,700 | 231,500 | 265,400 | 184,400 | - |
| 05 | 895,100 | 179,200 | 253,100 | 258,400 | 204,400 | - |
| 06 | 881,900 | 234,300 | 224,300 | 244,000 | 179,300 | - |
| 07 | 789,700 | 276,200 | 196,300 | 240,600 | 76,600 | - |
| 08 | 680,100 | 281,800 | 132,400 | 181,300 | 84,600 | - |
| 09 | 503,400 | 188,500 | 88,900 | 183,900 | 42,100 | - |
| 10 | 529,000 | 185,600 | 51,600 | 223,100 | 68,700 | - |
| 11 | 560,800 | 178,300 | - | 265,000 | 117,500 | - |
| Tot | 14,600,300 | 4,358,000 | 3,893,200 | 3,168,900 | 2,873,300 | 306,900 |
| Avg | 858,841 | 256,353 | 243,325 | 186,406 | 169,018 | 136,000 |
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