Automotive News Europe - February 2, 2009 - 6

PAGE 6 · www.autonewseurope.com February 2 , 2009 Hyundai revises production at Czech plant Production at Nosovice site cut to 4 days a week from 5 Lyle Frink Automotive News Europe PRAGUE Hyundai will add new models to its Czech plant earlier than planned to compensate for lowerthan-expected demand for the i30 hatchback. “One measure being taken is to widen the product portfolio,” Hyundai spokesman Petr Vanek said. The production start for the i30 station wagon will be moved forward by a month to late February or early March. The wagon, which is on sale in Europe, currently is built in Korea. Slowed down The Nosovice plant will begin making a small minivan code-named YN by the middle of the year instead of in the fourth quarter Vanek said. The YN will be built for Hyundai sister brand Kia. European sales of the i30 were down 27 percent to 2,974 in Novem- ber compared with the same month in 2007. The decline comes as all automakers are trying to cope with reduced demand for new cars in Europe and around the world. The sales slowdown is hitting Hyundai just three months after it started production of the i30 at its new ¤1.1 billion plant at Nosovice, in the northeast corner of the country. To respond to the sales decline, Hyundai’s Czech boss announced that the workweek at the factory would be cut to four days from five in ANE January. European sales of the i30 were down 27 percent to 2,974 in November from a year earlier. The drop lead to a production slowdown at Nosovice. Skoda reduces Octavia output in Slovakia Lyle Frink Automotive News Europe PRAGUE Skoda will continue to produce its lower-medium Octavia at the Volkswagen Slovakia plant in Bratislava but will slash volumes by two-thirds. “We have changed contracts with suppliers from 60,000 to 20,000 units,” Horst Mühl, Skoda board member for production and logistics, told Automotive News Europe. Skoda started making the Octavia in Bratislava in early 2008 due to higher-thanexpected demand for the car and limited capacity at the paint room in the car’s main factory in Mla- Skoda CEO Jung da Boleslav, does not want to Czech Republic. upset suppliers. But capacity was no longer an issue in late 2008. New-car sales declined so much that Skoda slashed production by 18,000 units in November and December. This caused some to question whether the Octavia work in Slovakia should be moved back to the Czech Republic. “You can’t decide where to make cars ad hoc,” Skoda CEO Reinhard Jung told reporters questioning why the automaker was continuing Slovak production. He was speaking at the December opening of Skoda’s new technical center in Mlada Boleslav. “In 2007, we decided to balance capacity usage and decided Bratislava was the right spot. We will stick to the 2007 decision,” he said. Keeping it local The decision to keep producing the Octavia in Slovakia is also seen as a way of retaining Skoda’s image as a local manufacturer – a central component in its Slovak marketing campaign. At a ceremony last summer marking the production of the 5,000th Octavia in Bratislava, Slovak President Ivan Gasparovic said: “Skoda is again a local carmaker.” Assembling cars in Slovakia also makes it easier to compete in government tenders. Slovak-made Octavias, however, have a higher logistics cost than those made in the Czech Republic. Skoda stamps and welds the car bodies at its main plant in Mlada Boleslav, then ships the bodies-inwhite by train or truck to Bratislava for painting and final assembly. Skoda’s market share in Slovakia has fallen from 45 percent to 19.2 perANE cent in the past decade.

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Automotive News Europe - February 2, 2009

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