The man behind VDL, Wim van der Leegte, died last night at the age of 76.
A great figure in the Dutch car industry is no longer with us. On the night of November 18 to 19, Wim van der Leegte passed away unexpectedly. To what extent, it is not yet known. It is known that VDL (you also know that VDL stands for Van Der Leegte) is one of the Dutch majors in the field of cars, but also in the field of buses and trucks.
VDL started as a metal and construction factory, founded by Wim’s father. Wim started helping out in the factory at an early age and did an internship at his father’s company for the HTS in 1966. Father Pieter van der Leegte became overworked and at the age of 19 Wim van der Leegte became the boss of the company. An interesting detail is that Wim briefly abandons his studies, but still graduates in 2004. At the age of 57!
Under the leadership of Wim van der Leegte, the bankrupt DAF Bus can be revived and VDL also took over the bus companies Bova and Berkhof Jonckheere Group. Anyone who has paid close attention knows that a popular bus type was sold in the Netherlands under the name VDL Berkhof Ambassador. VDL has also taken over parts of Philips and as is known, VDL also took over NedCar in Born to establish VDL NedCar.
VDL NedCar took over the store in 2012, when Mitsubishi still built cars there. From the Carisma, remember? Remarkably, this means that VDL actually only had BMW as a customer, before BMW stopped building the X1 and MINI Countryman here from now on. Yet the ten-year deal with BMW VDL has allowed NedCar to score regardless of weather and wind.
Wim van der Leegte stepped down as manager in 2016 and his son Willem van der Leegte has since taken on that role. Just because it was time, not for health reasons. As mentioned, it is not yet (publicly) known what caused Wim van der Leegte’s death. He was 76 years old.
This article VDL CEO Wim van der Leegte has passed away first appeared on Autoblog.nl.
#VDL #CEO #Wim #van #der #Leegte #passed