1st ICAI 2020

International Conference on Automotive Industry 2020

Mladá Boleslav, Czech Republic

Automotive Business Development in Central and Eastern Europe: Future Challenges and Perspectives Emil Velinov 1 , Josef Bradáč 2 ŠKODA AUTO University 1, 2 Department of Marketing and Management 1 Department of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering 2 Na Karmeli 1457, Mladá Boleslav, 293 01 Czech Republic e-mail: emil.velinov@savs.cz 1 , josef.bradac@savs.cz 2 Abstract The paper sheds a light on the current development of the entire automotive industry in the region of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). As the region is one of the most attractive and accessible for many OEM suppliers, the global automotive companies are trying to invest into building new production sites, service centers and spare parts dealerships. Therefore, the paper suggests that even though the economic and political turbulence, Central and Eastern Europe remain important market for the global car produces and countries as Czech Republic, Poland, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia and others from the region are essential hubs for investments. Moreover, the study argues that regardless of the current challenges in front of the car producers, there are plenty of opportunities for development of further business by the global car makers. The paper concludes that the electric car markets are increasing in majority of the CEE countries along with hybrid plug in car as well, which is one of the signs that the global car producers are developing the infrastructure and promoting e-mobility across the region. Keywords: automotive, business development, Central and Eastern Europe JEL Classification: F40, F63, M20 1. Introduction The automobile sector is one of the driving forces of economic growth in European Union and Central and Eastern Europe. However, due to increasing global competition there is a need to strengthen its position (Economist, 2017). European Union emphasized that 80% of the growth in the automotive sector is expected to occur outside the EU particularly in emerging economies such as China, India, Malaysia, Philippines and others. Therefore, several EU countries, which are strong in the automobile industry are focusing on concluding and enforcing preferential trade and investment agreements. At the same time, electromobility has been emerging recently across Europe, but still in Central and Eastern Europe it is growing with slow pace, which is under the expectations of the specialists and institutions. For example, Volkswagen and Toyota- the two biggest car producers have launched their hybrids and electrical cars across the World including the CEE region. Still for some CEE countries as Poland, Romania, Bulgaria and others the electromobility is far from the big sellers expectations as the number of diesel and unleaded petrol cars is still very high.

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