Money Buzz! Europa

Tag: car factory

  • Chervon Auto to invest 48 million euros in a factory in Hungary

    Chervon Auto to invest 48 million euros in a factory in Hungary

    Chinese company Chervon Auto will make a major investment in Hungary, of 17.5 billion forints (48 million euros), Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto announced on Monday, as APA and MTI report.

    The plant in Miskolc, in northeastern Hungary, will initially employ 138 people and deliver two million automotive components annually, for combustion engines and electric vehicles.

    The Hungarian government will support the investment with a subsidy of 5.3 billion forints, Szijjarto said. He added that Chinese investment indicates that Hungary continues to be an attractive investment destination.

    Last year, Hungary produced 550.000 cars and over two million engines, 90% of which were made for export.

  • Romania will have the fastest recovery of car sales in Central Europe

    Romania will have the fastest recovery of car sales in Central Europe

    Romania could record the largest decrease in sales of new passenger cars and light commercial vehicle (LCV) in Central Europe this year, of 24.3% compared to 2019, but will have a rapid recovery exceeding the pre-COVID crisis volume threshold until 2023, according to Autofacts report made by the PwC network at European level, based on IHS Markit data.

    Thus, estimates for the new cars and light commercial vehicles markets in Romania show a decrease from 181,000 units in 2019 to 137,000 units this year and, subsequently, an increase to 223,000 units in 2023.

    In Central Europe, Romania will have a decline comparable to Poland, which will also record a decrease of 24.3%. But Poland is estimated to have a slower recovery, and will remain below the level of 2019 in 2023.

    Thus, the smallest decrease would be registered by Hungary, of 19.6%, followed by Slovakia with 21.4% and the Czech Republic with 21.6%. Of these markets, only Slovakia will recover this year’s losses, and in 2023 car sales will exceed the level recorded in 2019.

    Overall, the market in Central Europe will decrease by 23% this year, reaching the level recorded in 2016, of 900,000 vehicles. In comparison, estimates for Western European markets show a contraction of 26%.

    Auto production development in Romania

    Regarding the production of vehicles in Romania, Autofacts and IHS estimates show a decrease of 16.3% this year, to 410,000 units, and an exponential increase until 2027, to 794,000 units, based on the plans of the two manufacturers – Ford and Renault.

    In 2019, Ford launched the production of the new Puma at the plant in Craiova and plans to add LCV volumes. In turn, Renault intends to increase the production volume of its plant in Pitesti, which, in addition, is expected to record the largest capacity utilization among factories in Central Europe.

    Romania ranks third in Central Europe after the decrease in car production this year, at the same level as Slovakia, by 16.1%. The steepest decline is expected for the Czech Republic, of 23.7%, followed by Hungary, with 18.5%. Polish production, on the other hand, will be the only one to grow slightly, with an estimated increase of 3.5%.

    Following the sharp decline in the second quarter, assembly volumes in Central Europe may generally fall by 22% by the end of the year.

    However, changes in models in European producer networks, a focus on light commercial vehicles in Central European factories and the launch of electric vehicle models could have a positive impact on the potential for production to return from 2024, according to Autofacts.

    Regarding the production of electric and hybrid vehicles in Central Europe, its prospects are positive, the share of assembly will reach 28% by 2027, from about 2% in 2019. However, it will be below 41% in Western Europe.

  • Czech automotive industry experienced a slight recovery in June 2020

    Czech automotive industry experienced a slight recovery in June 2020

    The Czech automotive industry experienced a slight recovery in June 2020, yet 32.5% fewer motor vehicles produced this year than in 2019.

    In June, bus manufacturers Iveco CR and SOR Libchava were particularly successful, achieving a significant growth of 12.7%.

    Cars

    A total of 503.615 passenger cars were produced in Czechia in the first half of the year, which is 32.6% less than in the same period of 2019.

    Skoda produced 337.580 (- 28.2%). The gradual increase in production caused by the coronavirus pandemic contributed to a gradual increase in its production in June, when the carmaker produced 73.991 more vehicles compared to previous months.

    Nošovický Huyndai produced a total of 96.390 cars (- 39.9%) in the first half of the year, while TPCA produced a total of 69.645 cars, 40.3% less than in the first half of last year.

    Buses and trucks

    In June 2019, Vysokomýtské Iveco produced 37 more buses than in June 2019. SOR Libchavy increased production by 73.3% in June and produced 223 buses.

    Together with KH Motor Centrum Opava, which has produced 9 buses since the beginning of the year, all manufacturers produced 516 buses in June (+ 12.7%).

    Tatra produced a total of 628 trucks in the first half of the year, 143 more than in the first half of last year (i.e. + 29.5%).

    Motorcycles

    The only motorcycle manufacturer, Týnecká JAWA, produced 249 motorcycles in the first half of the year. Compared to the previous year, it saw a decrease in production of 637 units (- 71.9 %).

    Trailers and semi-trailers

    The segment of trailers has not suffered much from the coronavirus pandemic so far.

    Total production in all categories increased slightly by 1.9% in the first half of the year to a total of 15.454 trailers.

    The positive development is mainly due to the increase in production of small trailers produced by Agados to a total of 14.363 vehicles (+ 2.5%).

    Schwarzmüller was successful in the category of large trailers with 908 units produced for January to June (+ 0.5%).

    PANAV, on the other hand, recorded a decrease, both in the trailer category (135 pcs; – 19.2%), and semi-trailers (48 pcs; – 38.5%).

  • Slovak car production was less than half of its last year’s production in May

    Slovak car production was less than half of its last year’s production in May

    Despite the fact that the performance of Slovak industry in May 2020 compared with April 2020, increased by almost 20 %, the total industrial production of the Slovak Republic reached only two thirds of the volume compared with last May. 

    In May, industrial production decreased by 33,5 %, year-on-year. The development was affected by a drop in manufacturing by 37,6 %, in electricity, gas, steam and air-conditioning supply by 5 % and in mining and quarrying by 9 %.

    The overall result was most significantly affected by the year-on-year drop in the production of transport equipment was by 56,9 %. The overall result was also favorably affected by high growth in the production of coke and refined petroleum products, which, however, is related to last year’s production shutdown of one of the large producers.

    From the total of 3 sections and 13 specific groupings of the industrial sectors, 8 groupings recorded a larger decrease in May by 25 %.

    As regards the specific groupings of the industrial sectors, which contributed the most to the total production fall, the most significant decrease was recorded in manufacture transport equipment by 56,9 %, manufacture of rubber and plastic products and other non-metallic mineral products by 35,5 %, manufacture of basic metal and fabricated metal products except machinery and equipment by 32,6 %, manufacture of electrical equipment by 42,2 % and manufacture of machinery and equipment n.e.c. by 32,8 %.

    The whole production was affected by a growth in manufacture of coke and refined petroleum products by 125,2 % which is, however, due to the last year´s low performance of the sector.

    Compared with May, in terms of the main industrial groupings, production of investment goods dropped by 48,9 %, production of durable products by 39,8 %, production of intermediate goods by 31,4 % and production of non-durable consumer goods by 19,3 %. Production related to energy was higher by 6,5 %.

    After seasonal adjustment, industrial production increased by 19,7 % in May 2020 compared with April 2020.

  • Poland produced only 400 passenger cars in April

    Poland produced only 400 passenger cars in April

    Poland auto factories produced only 400 vehicles in April 2020, latest Central Statistical Office data show.

    Passenger car output fell by 99% year on year in April 2020. In monthly terms, passenger car production also went down by 97.9 percent in April.

    In the first four months of 2020, the number of passenger cars produced in Poland reached 100.000 down by 35.7% year on year.

    The automobile industry is accounting for about 11% of Poland’s industrial production. Poland is one of the largest producer of light vehicles (passenger cars) in Central and Eastern Europe.

  • Unprecedented collapse for the European car market in April

    Unprecedented collapse for the European car market in April

    In April 2020, registrations of new passenger cars in the European Union posted a year-on-year decline of 76.3%, latest ACEA (The European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association) data show.

    The first full month with COVID-19 restrictions in place resulted in the strongest monthly drop in car demand since records began.

    With most showrooms across the EU closed for the entire month, the number of new cars sold fell from 1.143.046 units in April 2019 to 270.682 units last month.

    Biggest losses in Italy and Spain

    Each of the 27 EU markets recorded double-digit declines in April, but Italy and Spain endured the biggest losses, with car registrations falling by 97.6% and 96.5% respectively.

    Demand dropped by 61.1% in Germany, while France saw an 88.8% contraction in April.

    From January to April 2020, EU demand for new passenger cars contracted by 38.5%, owing to the negative impact of the coronavirus on March and April results.

    So far this year, registrations fell by half in three of the four key EU markets: Italy -50.7%, Spain -48.9% and France -48.0%. In Germany, demand contracted by 31.0% over the first four months of 2020.

    EU production losses: 2.424.955 motor vehicles

    EU-wide production losses due to factory shutdowns amount to at least 2.424.955 motor vehicles so far. This figure includes passenger cars, trucks, vans, buses and coaches.

    The average factories shutdown duration is 30 working days at the moment.

    CountryProduction lostDowntime (working days)
    Austria26,48034
    Belgium33,36025
    Croatia–29
    Czech Republic155,06029
    Finland11,60425
    France278,42534
    Germany605,72229
    Hungary51,55222
    Italy159,33641
    Netherlands30,81925
    Poland101,95736
    Portugal41,52535
    Romania68,67331
    Slovakia114,63224
    Slovenia19,39927
    Spain452,15534
    Sweden23,46415
    United Kingdom250,79240
    TOTAL (EU + UK)2,424,95530
    Production lost in motor vehicles factories | Source: ACEA