Car sales up in Czechia in 2021 despite fall in production

Production of passenger cars in the Czech Republic fell by 4.1 percent year-on-year to 1,105 million vehicles last year. This represents a drop by nearly 23 percent on 2020. Production fell more sharply in the third quarter, when the shortage of computer chips reached its peak. 

The shortage of chips affected sales of new passenger cars in the whole of the EU, which fell by 2.4 percent to 9.7 million last year. In the Czech Republic, however, car sales rose by 1.9 percent to 206,876 vehicles.

More than 91 per cent of cars produced in Czechia were destined for foreign markets, according to data released by the Association of the Automotive Industry.

Škoda Auto, the largest domestic carmaker (and exporter), produced 680,287 vehicles at its domestic plants, a year-on-year decline of 9.2 percent.

Despite the chip crisis, the Hyundai factory in Nošovice increased production by 15.2 percent year-on-year to 275,000 cars, while production at the Kolín-based Toyota fell 8.9 percent to 149,936 cars.

Electric cars accounted for 11 percent of the total production, with 121,262 vehicles produced last year.

"We estimate that up to 300,000 passenger vehicles that would be sold on the market couldn’t be produced in the Czech Republic in 2021, due to the chip crisis,” said Zdeněk Petzl, executive director of the Association of the Automotive Industry.

"We expect we could return to growth in 2022, although the situation surrounding the supply of chips and other components remains to be tight," Mr. Petzl added.

Tatra Trucks, which is the only truck manufacturer among the association's members, produced 1,262 vehicles, which is an increase of 6.9 percent on 2020. Some 486 of these were sold on the domestic market.

Production of Jawa Moto motorcycles rose 87.2 percent year-on-year to 1,035 machines last year. Jawa did particularly well on the Czech market with 791 units sold.

Meanwhile, bus production in the Czech Republic in 2021 fell by 2.4 percent year-on-year in 2021 to 4,947 vehicles. Trailer and semi-trailer production increased by 10.5 percent to 29,231 units.