Leather car seat maker Vogl is broke
More than 150 workers fear losing their jobs as a car industry supplier goes bust.Mattighofen-based leather producer Vogl said today (Thurs) that it has been forced to declare itself bankrupt following a dramatic decrease in orders of its products from car manufacturers. It used to provide leather seats for German firms like BMW, Porsche and Volkswagen (VW).The Upper Austrian company employs around 130 staff at its factory headquarters, with another 30 employees working at its facility in the Styrian town of Mureck.The Federal CreditorsÂ’ Protection Association (KSV 1870) said Vogl, which was founded in 1974, had debts of around 12.9 million Euros.In the bankruptcy proceedings Vogl said the plan had been to try and get the finances back on track and keep the business alive.The news comes just one day after KSV 1870 announced that in the first nine months of this year the number of Austrian companies going bust was down by 9.2 per cent to 4,717 compared to the same period in 2009. The body also added the overall amount of liabilities had fallen by 17.2 per cent to 2.4 billion Euros.Around 17,200 employees were affected by bankruptcies between January and September of 2010, according to KSV 1870.