Slovak automotive sector is recovering faster than elsewhere
The Slovak automotive sector is recovering faster than elsewhere. The Bratislava plant of Volkswagen as well as the Trnava plant of PSA already run at full capacity, and Kia Motors plans to add a third shift on September 2 (it will stop for a regular two-week summer break next Monday). The Nitra plant of Jaguar Land Rover has not disclosed plans for adding a third shift, but it was running at two shifts even before the pandemic. While global demand for cars is expected to drop 20-30% this year, the local automotive association ZAP expects just a 10% drop in Slovak car production from last year’s 1.1m vehicles. This will help local automotive suppliers, too. All car makers praise the government for plans to adopt permanent kurzarbeit and are concerned about the planned minimum wage hike.
