Van Hool

Van Hool, later styled VDL-Van Hool, was a Belgian coachbuilder and manufacturer of buses, coaches, trolleybuses and trailers. It built most of its buses and coaches entirely in-house, fitting engines and axles bought from Caterpillar, Cummins, DAF and MAN and gearboxes from ZF or Voith, although some production put bus and coach bodies onto separate chassis from makers such as Volvo and Scania. At its peak the company employed about 4,500 people worldwide and turned out more than 1,700 buses and coaches and some 5,000 trailers a year, selling on average about 600 coaches annually in the United States. Van Hool filed for bankruptcy on 5 April 2024 and was declared bankrupt by the Commercial Court of Belgium on 8 April 2024. Two days later its trustees accepted a takeover bid from the Dutch bus maker VDL and the German semi-trailer maker Schmitz Cargobull.