Car production in Czechia falls by 39% during summer

Car production in Czechia falls by 39% during summer
Skoda Auto's Mlada Boleslav plant has had to extend its traditional summer shutdowns
By bne IntelliNews September 20, 2021

Car production in Czechia slowed down during the summer months (July and August), down by 39% year-on-year to 112,481 cars produced, mainly due to the ongoing crisis in the semiconductor market, shows data released by the Association of the Automotive Industry. 

The semiconductor shortage has held back Central Europe's recovery from the worst of the pandemic because the region is extremely dependent on the automotive industry. Car plants in Hungary, Slovakia and Poland have all been affected.  Daimler and Suzuki's plants in Hungary have also recently announced shutdowns.

“In July and August, car production dropped by 39.2% compared to the summer months last year, when the entire industry was catching up on the production missed in the spring months," commented Zdenek Petzl, Executive Director of the Association of the Automotive Industry. 

In the first eight months of the year, carmakers produced a total of 775,496 cars, increasing their production by 12.6% y/y, while going down in production by 17.7% (166,000 cars) compared to the pre-crisis level in 2019. 

"The situation in the automotive industry is not improving, quite the opposite. In Malaysia, production at key chip suppliers has been temporarily suspended due to measures against the spread of coronavirus. Supply has also been affected by logistics problems, for example due to the closure of some major Chinese ports,” Petzl added. 

Both car producers Skoda Auto and Toyota had to extend their traditional summer shutdowns due to lack of chips. So far, only Hyundai in Nosovice has been able to successfully face the crisis. The company produced 182,400 cars in 8M21, up by 33.1% y/y. 

From January until August, Skoda Auto posted a 7.9% growth in car production to 486,423 vehicles, while in July and August the company made only 65,585 vehicles, down by 42% y/y. 

Toyota recorded a 37.4% drop in its production to 6,896 cars produced during summer, in the first eight months it made 106,673 (up by 5.8% annually). 

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