PSA Peugeot Citroen, one of the three major carmakers with factories in Slovakia, will halt production at its Trnava plant for 13 days during the next three months, the Sme daily has reported. The news comes despite the Trnava factory having increased production by 10 percent during the last year.
2009 was a turbulent one for carmakers generally, and also for those located in Slovakia, Sme wrote on March 22. For example, Bratislava-based Volkswagen Slovakia produced over 105,000 vehicles, well down on the 188,000 it made the year before. The impact of the crisis was somewhat eased last year by the government's car-scrapping bonus scheme, which subsidised the purchase of new cars in return for older ones being scrapped.
However, no repeat of the scheme is planned this year, and the prospects for carmakers producing in Slovakia are uncertain. Some of them are banking on innovations and news models such as Volkswagen's UP! or the Hyundai ix35 SUV now being manufactured at Kia Slovakia' plant in Žilina.
Source: Sme
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
The Slovak Spectator cannot vouch for the accuracy of the information presented in its Flash News postings.
