A focus on small car production is fuelling recovery in the auto industry-dependent economies of central and eastern Europe.
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Small cars sold relatively well during the credit crisis as they were popular among buyers inspired by scrappage incentive schemes introduced by several governments to persuade drivers to swap old vehicles for brand new ones.
News agency AFP said schemes in Germany and France had turned central and eastern European producers of smaller models into winners, especially as their plants export most of their output to western Europe.
Czech Association of Automotive Industries director Antonin Sipek told AFP: “Without the ‘cash for clunkers’ benefits in European Union countries, the slump in output would certainly have been greater.”
Slovak PSA Peugeot Citroen spokesman Peter Svec added: “2009 has been a success for us thanks to the scrapping scheme. We expect to produce more than 200,000 units this year which is an increase of 10% over 2008.”
Other factories benefiting from a focus on small cars include Poland’s largest car maker, Fiat, based in Tychy, which produces the Fiat 500 and Panda models plus the Ford Ka. It told AFP is expects to produce a record 600,000 or so cars this year. Last year, it assembled 492,000 units.
AFP noted that, with the future still uncertain, car makers across the region were pinning hopes on small new models. General Motors’ Opel plant in Poland recently launched production of a new Astra IV.
In Turkey, home to Renault, Fiat, Ford, Toyota, Hyundai and Honda plants whose combined output slumped by an annual 36.4% in January-September, “new projects… are being born” as well, a recent report from a French business mission in Istanbul said.
Turkish plants have announced a new Ford Transit model, new hybrid and electric cars including the electric Renault Fluence ZE, and the country is also awaiting new investors including China’s Dongfeng Motor and Chery.
Not everyone has seen increases, however. Output at Czech car maker Skoda Auto fell to 386,003 units in January-September 2009 from almost 0.5m cars a year ago.
Suzuki in Hungary, producing the small Swift, Splash and SX4 models, expects its output to drop to 180,000 cars this year from 281,686 units in 2008 and the Czech Hyundai plant, producing the i30 model, has revised its plan for 2009, cutting projected output to 120,000 from 160,000 units according to spokesman Petr Vanek.
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