Skoda Auto will slow the production of the car form the current 574 units daily to 441 units. The Octavia sedan was Skoda’s best selling vehicle last year.
"The market hasn't developed as well as we had expected," Skoda spokesman, Jaroslav Cerny was quoted as saying by the aforementioned source, adding that the unusually snowy winter could be keeping potential buyers out of showrooms.
The decrease in sales comes after the German government (Germany is Skoda’s largest car market) ended its cash for clunkers program last autumn.
According to Cerny, the production-cutting measure has been scheduled to start in March even though the company has been cautious because officials wanted the production to follow the market’s demand as closely as possible.
"Together with this change we'll decrease the number of agency workers and will shift some core workers from one position to another at the factory in Mlada Boleslav," he said, explaining that Skoda-employed workers will lose their jobs.
Cerny also added that the production could be increased in the future, if the market requires this.
Volkswagen is currently Europe’s biggest car manufacturer and the world’s third biggest automotive manufacturer. The company has developed an ambitious plan to increase its sales by almost 60 percent (reach over 10 million units per year) and also improve its profit margins by 2018, thus becoming the world’s No.1 car producer.
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