Passenger car production in Czechia fell by 47% year-on-year in October to 68,202 vehicles due to shutdowns caused by a shortage of chips, reported the Automotive Industry Association. 

Overall, the number of passenger vehicles produced amounted to 899,855 this year (since January), down by 4% y/y, which has been the worst figures so far since 2014. Compared to 2019 data, the number of passenger cars made dropped by 24.5%. 

"The association's current statistics only track the performance of carmakers, but the decline in domestic and European vehicle production is causing multiple losses, especially on the part of supplier companies. Small and medium-sized companies are particularly at risk. Although some reports in recent weeks indicate a slight improvement, the situation remains extremely tense," said Zdenek Petzl, executive director of the Automotive Industry Association. 

"Already a month ago, the government promised its assistance to companies in the [automotive] sector with partial wage compensation and companies counted on this assistance. Domestic companies are also at a disadvantage against their foreign competitors, which can take advantage of comparable programmes, such as active coursework in Germany or the ongoing similar Antivirus programme in Slovakia," Petzl said.

Hyundai is the only carmaker to resist so far the chip crisis; the company produced 231,600 vehicles in 10M21, up by 21.8% y/y. Its October production dropped by 8.8% y/y to 24,300 cars.

The biggest Czech carmaker Skoda Auto had to significantly reduce production at its domestic plants during October, and its October production dropped by 59.2% y/y. From January until October the company produced 547,174 vehicles (down by 11.0% y/y). 

The share of electric vehicles in domestic production continues to grow; at the end of October the total number of electric vehicles stood at 100,856 cars, representing 11.2% of total production.