 | This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Berkhof Groep" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (December 2011) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
 | |
| Industry | Automotive |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1970 |
| Founder | Arthur Berkhof Henk Berkhof |
| Defunct | 2010 |
| Successor | VDL Bus & Coach |
| Headquarters | The Netherlands |
| Products | Buses |
| Parent | VDL Groep |
| Subsidiaries | Jonckheere |
| Website | www.vdlberkhof.com |
Berkhof Groep (later Berkhof Jonckheere Groep and VDL Berkhof) was a Netherlands based bus and coach builder, founded in 1970 by Arthur Berkhof and his son Henk. It started with only 10 employees in a 1,000 m factory. During the first 18 months the company only carried out bus repairs.
In 1985, the operation moved to a brand new 10,000 m facility in Valkenswaard. The number of employees was now 132. The factory expanded in 1989 by an additional 10,000 m resulting in a production capacity of 350 units a year following the acquisition of Hainje.
In 1994 Belgium bus and coach manufacturer Jonckheere with a total sales of 400 units per year and 500 employees, was acquired. The total staff number of employees of the Berkhof Groep now reached 1,200.
In 1997, the company changed its name from Berkhof Groep to Berkhof Jonckheere Groep. In 1998 it was bought by the VDL Groep and in 2010 was subsumed by VDL Bus & Coach.
The company has also built low-floor articulated trolleybuses for Arnhem in the Netherlands, and Solingen in Germany.
Former models
- Ambassador
- Axial 50
- Axial 70
- Axial 100 DD
- Eclipse
- Excellence 500
- Excellence 1000
- Excellence 2000 HL / HLE
- Excellence 3000
References
- In Brief Commercial Motor 16 February 1989
- Murray, Alan (2000). World Trolleybus Encyclopaedia, p. 109. Yateley, Hampshire, UK: Trolleybooks. ISBN 0-904235-18-1.
- Trolleybus Magazine No. 252 (Nov.-Dec. 2003), p. 132. National Trolleybus Association (UK). ISSN 0266-7452.
External links
Media related to Berkhof vehicles at Wikimedia Commons- VDL Berkhof official website
 Automotive industry in the Netherlands | |
|---|---|
| Domestic manufacturers | |
| Foreign manufacturers registered in the country | |
| Active volume-production factories | |
| Motor racing constructors | |
| Solar racing teams | |
| Components manufacturers | |
| Automotive design | |
| Defunct manufacturers | |
| Defunct motor racing | |
| Other | |
| |
