Automotive industry in the Czech Republic

The automotive industry is one of the most important industries in the Czech Republic. It produces more than 20% of production volume, directly employs more than 120,000 people and at full capacity, produces more than 1.3 million passenger cars per year, which is a new car every 23 seconds (as of 2017). In total, industry accounts for 35% of the Czech economy.

The automotive industry plays a very significant role in Czech exports. In January 2010, machinery and transport equipment accounted for 54.3% of exports. In 2016, 1,351,124 motor vehicles were produced in the Czech Republic, which was 8.2% more year-on-year.

The following car brands are currently manufactured in the Czech Republic: Škoda, Hyundai, Toyota, Praga (racing and sports cars), MW Motors (electric car).

Additionally, trucks (Tatra Trucks, Praga) as well as busses, trams, trains and subway trains (SOR Libchavy, Iveco Czech Republic, Skoda Transportation) are also produced in Czechia.

In 2006, the Czech Republic received the single largest foreign direct investment it had ever received before due to the automotive industry. This was a CZK 34.4 billion investment by Hyundai, a South Korean automaker, to establish Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Czech in Nošovice.

Škoda, a Czech brand, was involved in the first privatization deals in Eastern Europe after being acquired by Volkswagen in 1991. This brought historically significant amount of foreign investment to the Czech Republic. This investment by Volkswagen comes in separate deals (1991, 1994, 1995, 2000) to purchase increasingly larger percentage of share in the Škoda company until it became the sole owner on May 30th, 2000.

Major automotive parts suppliers such as Forvia (previously named Faurecia) are also producing in the Czech Republic.