INVESTOŘI V MSK

The Automotive Industry in the

Moravian-Silesian Region and Its Future

The automotive industry is one of the pillars of the economy not only in the Moravian-Silesian

Region but also in the whole of the Czech Republic. Currently, one of the most fundamental

changes in the history of this sector is taking place here and it will be interesting to watch how

our economy will deal with it. The Moravian-Silesian Region has all the prerequisites to cope with

this transition and thereby strengthen its position in newly appearing progressive sectors such as

electromobility, autonomous driving, connectivity and the utilisation of big data.

The automotive industry in the Czech Republic makes

up roughly a tenth of the national GDP (Gross Domestic

Product) and employs more than 180,000 people. It plays

an even more important role in innovation, accounting for

36% of all industrial investment in science and research. In

the Moravian-Silesian Region, there are more than forty

companies active in the automotive and other related

industries, employing 25,000 people. The long tradition of car

production in the Moravian-Silesian Region is demonstrated

by the TATRA TRUCKS a.s. car factory, which is the secondoldest continuously producing car factory in the world.

However, a turning point in the modern history of the

region was the appearance of the Hyundai car company

Text:

Marek Burian

Infografika:

autosap.cz, civinet.cz, vitkovice.cz

Foto:

Background photo created by

rawpixel.com

44 ǀ POSITIV 3/2021

in 2006, which meant a fundamental strengthening of

this sector, the coming of many supplier companies

and an improvement in an unfavourable situation on

the labour market in those times. Last year, affected by

the coronavirus pandemic, nearly 240,000 cars were

produced in Nošovice, accounting for roughly one-fifth

of all automobiles produced in the Czech Republic. By

comparison, the Hyundai carmaker regularly produced

more than 300,000 cars a year in previous years and

celebrated a major milestone in 2019—its three millionth

car produced. Another milestone that shifts the Nošovice

carmaker into the ‘electric age’ is the launch of the Kona

Electric in March last year, which was the first electromobile

produced in the Czech Republic.