Photo: Skoda
Skoda's sales boom is slowing, not because customers stopped being interested, but due to a bottleneck in the supply chain. The waiting time for something like a the Kodiaq can be as bad as those of luxury brand.
And the problem is only going to get worse until a new factory is opened. Last year, the two factories in the Czech Republic, Mlada Boleslav, and Kvasiny put together 886,100 vehicles. The Skoda Scala compact and Kamiq SUV are also being added, creating a bottleneck.
Volkswagen is going to make matters worse because it wants to concentrate production of all the MEB electric cars in Germany. And that means the Passat will be pushed to the same line as its sister, the Superb.
Company officials have been looking for the ideal location to add a third Skoda factory in Europe. And according to Autonews, that's going to be Serbia. According to their report, the country has already been picked by the VW Group, and this yet unnamed factory will also assemble SEAT models that have yet to be named.
When asked about the matter in Geneva, Skoda CEO Bernhard Maier said four countries were being taken into consideration but admitted the decision should be reached during the first half of the year.
Turkey was a top contender, yet its star is waning due to a decline in the lira and other internal reasons. Bulgaria and Romania were also considered but lack infrastructure to ship the assembled cars to Central and Western Europe. Our vote would have gone to Hungary, where Audi makes most of its compacts as well as a variety of smaller engines.
Alas, Serbia is being picked, and it's also home to Fiat. This is a relatively small operation with a total capacity of 85,000 units annually that puts together the slow-selling 500L MPV, though a new SUV will b added next year.
Volkswagen is going to make matters worse because it wants to concentrate production of all the MEB electric cars in Germany. And that means the Passat will be pushed to the same line as its sister, the Superb.
Company officials have been looking for the ideal location to add a third Skoda factory in Europe. And according to Autonews, that's going to be Serbia. According to their report, the country has already been picked by the VW Group, and this yet unnamed factory will also assemble SEAT models that have yet to be named.
When asked about the matter in Geneva, Skoda CEO Bernhard Maier said four countries were being taken into consideration but admitted the decision should be reached during the first half of the year.
Turkey was a top contender, yet its star is waning due to a decline in the lira and other internal reasons. Bulgaria and Romania were also considered but lack infrastructure to ship the assembled cars to Central and Western Europe. Our vote would have gone to Hungary, where Audi makes most of its compacts as well as a variety of smaller engines.
Alas, Serbia is being picked, and it's also home to Fiat. This is a relatively small operation with a total capacity of 85,000 units annually that puts together the slow-selling 500L MPV, though a new SUV will b added next year.
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