Czech automotive production fell -30% on-year in January-July to 589,339 units, according to the latest Czech Automotive Industry Association (AIA) data seen by Kallanish. That compares to an -11% on-year decline in the first quarter before the Covid-19 pandemic impact struck.

The Czech Republic is Central and Eastern Europe (CEE)’s largest car manufacturer, sourcing automotive steel from US Steel Kosice (USSK) and ArcelorMittal among other suppliers, and producing most cars for export.

Production mainly consists of passenger and light commercial vehicles (M1+N1), whose output fell -30% in January-July to 586,333 vehicles. Toyota, Peugeot, Citroen (TPCA) saw the biggest output drop of -40%, followed by Hyundai with -39% and Skoda with -24%.

According to the latest data available, passenger car exports in the first half of 2020 dropped -34% on-year to 458,757 units, while local sales fell -17% to 45,932 units.

Czech production of buses, meanwhile, fell -8% in January-July to 2,728 units.

In 2019 Czech automotive output inched down -0.69% on-year to 1.434 million units, after an annual record figure in 2018.