Last year Slovakia was once again world leader in the number of cars produced per capita. Almost a million cars, 980 000, were produced by PSA Peugeot Citroen, Kia and Volkswagen across three plants in the country in the year 2013, and in comparison to the previous year, the number increased by almost 6%. For now it is not clear what the year 2014 will bring in this area.
“It is possible that we will not produce as many cars as last year because several manufacturers are preparing model changes,” stated President of the Automotive Industry Association Jaroslav Holecek. However, the expected drop in car output this year won't take a toll on the number of employees in the sector he claims. Holecek further stated that Slovakia is at the limit of capacities. “If we wanted to produce more, a new automotive company would have to arrive”. And on the back of that information, all Slovak dailies inform about the fact that Slovakia may be in the game for a new carmaker, as the maker of electric cars Tesla plans to build new production capacities in Europe and Asia.
To maintain leadership in car production Slovakia should continue to build highways and work on the development of education, research and development, as it has been neglected over the past twenty years, says the head of the Automotive Industry Association. He further added that the industry needs a qualified and flexible workforce and a more flexible Labour Code would surely help automakers.
While it was a great year for the production of cars in Slovakia, interestingly enough, the sales and registration of new cars in country went down slightly last year compared to 2012, as shown by the figures of the Car Industry Association. Despite this the Association perceives the years as a good one, mainly when put into context of the situation in other European countries, where sale of cars are far more disturbing, stated representative of the Association Jan Pribula.
