Hyundai plans 300,000 cars per year at Czech plant

The Czech plant of Korean carmaker Hyundai Motor plans to produce 300,000 cars in 2013 and keep production at full capacity in coming years, a spokesman said on Thursday.

Hyundai’s Czech plant produced 303,035 vehicles in 2012, its first full year at capacity.

Spokesman Petr Vanek said the plan was to keep the plant at capacity in the future regardless of the situation in European markets as production is also exported to other countries, such as Australia and South Africa.

Some western European car markets are having their weakest year in two decades.

“Regarding the situation in the [European] car market, it can be expected that there will more likely be a recovery so we will start to return from markets outside of Europe, depending on how demand grows,” he said.

The Czech facility is one of three car plants in the country along with Volkswagen’s Czech unit Skoda Auto and a joint venture between Toyota Motor and PSA Peugeot Citroen.

The car industry association reported last month that Czech output soared by 50 percent year-on-year in August, helping to narrow a decline that has been hurting the country’s key business sector since last year.

The Czech economy moved out of recession in the second quarter, boosted by exports.

Nearly all of Hyundai’s Czech production is exported.

Reuters