The Automotive Industry Association said that Czech domestic car makers produced 711,445 passenger cars and light utility vehicles between January and September, down by 4.5% YoY. Lorry output fell by 61% YoY to 791 units on the year. Bus production declined by 15.4% YoY to 2,194 units, 1,836 of which were made by Irisbus. Motorcycle production, represented by Jawa as the single producer, dropped by 62% YoY to 456 units.

The biggest car maker Skoda Auto produced 386,003 units, down by 22% YoY. TPCA turned out 247,432 cars, approximately the same amount as a year ago. Hyundai Nosovice produced 78,000 cars, while there was no car production in September last year.

Ms Petra Safkova analyst at PricewaterhouseCoopers said that car output in the Czech Republic in Q3 was boosted strongly by the car scrapping premium schemes in Western Europe. The number of registrations of new cars in the EU grew by nearly 10% in September.

She added that "Even though in Germany, which represents the biggest marketplace, funds for the car scrapping subsidies were exhausted by the beginning of September, Czech output did not suffer from it in September, when cars that had been ordered in the previous months were produced."

Ms Safkova said that the outlook for 2010 remains mixed. She added that "On the one hand, signs of an economic revival have appeared already, which is connected with a possible increase in demand, but on the other hand, there are still fears as to whether there will be enough customers willing to buy new cars without subsidy schemes."

(Sourced from Czech News Agency)