“European Detroit” may face a crisis. The specter of layoffs and economic collapse

and Slovakia are among the European and even world leaders when it comes to the number of cars produced per person employed in the industry. The economy of our southern neighbors is based on the automotive industry. At least a quarter of both countries’ exports depend on automotive factories. Over the last twenty years, this has led to economic growth averaging 3.5 percent. in Slovakia and 2.4 percent in the Czech republic. “” describes, however, how great a challenge the green transformation will be for the countries of the former Czechoslovakia.

Czechs and Slovaks have a problem

– The Slovak economy is heavily dependent on car production. With the rapid transition from combustion cars to electric cars, Slovakia must transform and adapt to the new situation, says Vazil Hudák, former Minister of Economy and vice-chairman of the GLOBSEC think tank. The organization reads that up to 85,000 seats may disappear during the transition to electric cars in Slovakia.

Employment in the sector in both the Czech Republic and Slovakia is huge. Car manufacturers and parts suppliers to Slovaks employ a total of approximately 260,000 people. In the Czech Republic, the number in the industry is expected to be almost twice as large and amount to over half a million people. Already in October, Kongsberg Automotive, a lever manufacturer in central Slovakia, dismissed 192 employees due to rising costs.

Did you sleep for a while?

Bloomberg notes that the Czech Republic has been left behind in the new automotive race. He cites Poland and Hungary as examples, where factories with batteries for electric cars are already being built. Soon, potential manufacturers, looking for a factory, will choose a place with easy access to the materials necessary to produce a car, and this will harm the Czechs and Slovaks. He considered it unprofitable because “there are currently no commercial reasons to decide on additional locations in Europe.”