Slovakia produces over 1 mln cars in 2015

For the first time in history more than 1 million vehicles were produced in Slovakia in 2015, announced Slovak Automobile Industry Association (ZAP) president Juraj Sinay on Monday.

"We achieved 184 cars per thousand inhabitants. Although we can talk about a record number, on the other hand I want to say that the automobiles that are produced in Slovakia really are at the top," said Sinay, referring to carmakers that are already at home in Slovakia, with plants owned by Volkswagen (Germany) in Bratislava, by Kia Motors Slovakia (South Korea) in Teplicka nad Vahom in the Northern Slovakia and by PSA Peugeot-Citroen (France) in Trnava in the Western Slovakia.

"The cars made by our three carmakers are the flagships of these individual companies on the world market," stressed Sinay. Carmaking contributed 35 percent of Slovakia's industrial exports in 2015. The sector alongside with associated fields employs more than 200,000 people in Slovakia.

According to Sinay, a persistent problem in the industry is the unequal distribution of suppliers, with the east falling behind the west. The planned arrival of British carmaker Jaguar Land Rover in Nitra hasn't changed the fact that the western part of the country has more developed supplier infrastructure than the east. Enditem