Volkswagen’s Slovak plant on Tuesday said its sales fell 16% year-on-year in the first half of 2005 to 80 billion crowns ($US2.5 billion).
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According to a Reuters report, Volkswagen, Slovakia’s biggest company by sales and the country’s largest exporter, made sales worth 95.4 billion crowns in the first six months of last year.
The company reportedly said the Slovak plant had assembled 109,868 vehicles, down from 120,117 cars built a year ago. The factory also made 188,811 gearboxes and 11.2 million car components in the first six months of 2005.
Exports totalled 79.3 billion crowns in the January-June period, while the factory’s imports were 44.8 billion, Reuters said, noting that the company did not comment further on the first-half results.
The news agency added that the Volkswagen plant, the backbone of Slovakia’s booming car sector, saw its sales drop by 5% in crown terms last year because of refitting of production lines and a firming crown.
It reportedly has shifted its focus to higher added value models, such as the off-road Touareg, and the changes in the production lines were behind last year’s decline.
Reuters said off-road vehicles accounted for 58% of the overall output last year and their share will rise further when the plant launches production of new Audi Q7 SUV in the third or early fourth quarter of 2005.
The news agency noted that Slovakia, which joined the European Union last year, is expected to become the world’s largest car maker per capita in 2006 or early 2007, when new plants owned by Peugeot Citroen and Kia Motors start production.
