In Trnava, Slovakia the recent opening of a US$890 million automobile factory by Peugeot Citroen is expected to employ up to 3500 people. Slovakia’s most senior government officials including the prime minister, as well as Peugot’s top executives, attended the inauguration of the new factory. For the locals of this small Slovakian town, they are happy to see unemployment continue to drop to 5% from about 13% only three years ago.
After the collapse of communism in 1989, many foreign carmakers rushed into the Central and Eastern European states to acquire local carmakers or build their own factories. In recent times the flow of money continues to increase and this year car production in Central and Eastern Europe (excluding Russia) is on track to exceed 2.4 million vehicles as millions of dollars of investment pours in from Europe, Asia, and US carmakers. By 2010 the Czech Republic could see its production alone doubled to more than one million cars. Pricewaterhouse Coopers consultants forecast that Eastern Europe could be producing 3.4 million cars annually by 2010.
Observers state that Europe’s auto industry seems to have shifted from west to east, with countries such as the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia seeing much of the investment. With many of the Eastern European countries now entering the European Union, borders have become open and cars from the region may enter Western Europe without duties.
The New York Times
Novemer 25, 2006
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