Tatra Trucks generated an operating profit before depreciation (EBITDA) of CZK 365 million crowns in 2019, following a down year in 2018 when the company posted losses of CZK 69 million. The company also increased revenue by over two billion year-on-year to CZK 5.88 billion.
Pavel Lazar, CEO of Tatra, says strong second-half sales and increased production contributed to the company’s success.
In 2019, Tatra manufactured 1,181 trucks and chassis and sold 1,281. In 2018, the carmaker produced 790 cars and sold 841. Exports account for 80 percent of Tatra’s sales.
Last year’s biggest foreign market was Jordan, where Tatra delivered 300 chassis. Another strong overseas market for Tatra is Brazil, where the company plans to build an assembly plant.
Tatra started exports to Turkey in 2019. “In 2019, the carmaker delivered a total of 78 cars to Austria, mainly due to the resumption of cooperation with Rosenbauer, which ordered almost 50 airport fire specials,” the spokesman said.
The company was one of few European automakers not to interrupt production during the coronavirus pandemic and expects to manufacture the same number of vehicles in 2020 as last year.
Tatra Trucks manufactures trucks and custom vehicles. It has 1,100 employees, and another 600 people work in the subsidiary Tatra Metalurgie. The majority owner of the Tatra is the Czechoslovak Group owned by Michal Strnad.