Czech auto production is expected to fall by 20% in 2020 due to coronavirus closures. Last year, domestic carmakers and parts manufacturers increased sales by 1.9 percent to a record of CZK 1.124 trillion. Exports rose by 2.4 percent to CZK 942 million. The dominant export market was Germany, with a third share. This year, they expect a decline in sales of at least CZK 215 billion. The Association of the Automotive Industry (AutoSAP) announced at a press conference today.
Vehicle manufacturers increased sales by 6.5 percent to CZK 658 billion in 2019, while parts manufacturers’ sales, fell by four percent to CZK 441 billion. Revenues of companies in the area of research and development and services increased by 1.6 percent to CZK 25.3 billion last year.
Automakers shipped 1,427,563 passenger cars in 2019, which is 0.7 percent less than in 2018. Truck production rose 43 percent to 1,181 vehicles. Bus production rose seven percent to 5,217 units, and motorcycle production fell a third to 980 units. Three hundred thousand fewer motor vehicles will be produced in the Czech Republic in 2020.
Last year, Škoda Auto increased its production by 2.5 percent to a record of 907,942 cars. Sales in Europe helped the carmaker in particular. Kolín’s TPCA maintained output at the previous level of 210,000 vehicles, and at the Hyundai company in Nošovice, production fell by nine percent to 309,500 cars, which is related, among other things, to the cessation of production of the ix20 model.
Car manufacturers did not produce 220,000 cars this year due to the pandemic. Their revenues fell by CZK 90 billion, and supplier companies lost CZK 60 billion.
The number of employees in automotive companies increased by 1,000 to 133,000 in 2019. The average wage grew by six percent to CZK 43,949. Overall, it was 29 percent above the average salary in the Czech Republic. So far, there have been no widespread redundancies.
AutoSAP companies accounted for 23 percent of total industrial production last year, and their share in total exports was 21 percent. They employ 11 percent of industry workers in the Czech Republic.