To remain the main pillar of the Slovak economy, the automotive industry needs to jump on the new wave of electromobility and draw more investments into research and development. That is the only way to advance from merely assembling cars to a more sophisticated industry a modern country can take pride in. In this respect, the latest project of Porsche, intending to build an R&D centre in Slovakia, signals that local companies are prepared to answer the challenge.
Research headed to Piešťany
In October 2019, the government approved an incentive of €2 million for Porsche Werkzeugbau, a subsidiary of the German carmaker Porsche in the town of Dubnica nad Váhom. The company that is part of the Volkswagen group will build a new technology centre, focusing on the automatisation and robotisation of car production, in Horná Streda, a village near the western-Slovak spa town of Piešťany. With a plan to invest nearly €14 million, it should employ about 30 people by 2023.