12/9/2022 |Articles are machine translated
Petr Novák, Director of Automotive Division JTEKT Europe | Photo: Barbora Mráčková
Says Petr Novák, Director of the Automotive Division of JTEKT Europe and member of the Board of Directors of the Automotive Industry Association, in the main interview of the issue. This year’s third issue of ČESKÝ AUTOPRŮMYSL also features the traditional sections, including a look into the membership base, current trends and technologies and a foreign window.
Dear readers, when we planned the content of this issue of Czech Car Industry, we said that we did not want it to consist mainly of texts that reflect fears about the future. We probably would not have brought anything new. We are aware of the difficult situation companies in the automotive industry are in. We at the Automobile Industry Association know about all the problems with component supply, the rising prices of components and the broken supply chains. We know that car sales are falling. We know that there is a war in Ukraine, which for manufacturers means either the interruption of component supplies from that country or the loss of the (Russian) export market; for some, both. Moreover, the car industry is in transition and Brussels is preparing new regulations.
The biggest problem at the moment is the rising energy prices and the looming gas shortage. AutoSAP not only registers all this, but also analyses and informs members about possible developments and upcoming measures. At the same time, it is negotiating with the relevant authorities and the government to mitigate the impact on the automotive sector.
Extreme energy prices are turning previously profitable production into loss-making and without compensation, the worst affected companies risk not surviving. In particular, companies in the supply sector are under enormous pressure, and not just those with energy-intensive production. The situation of the supplier sector, or rather the feelings of the management of these companies, is accurately described by the title of an interview with AutoSAP board member Petr Novák: “I wish there was more understanding of the seriousness of the situation of suppliers”.
Although until recently the government was rather indifferent to the problems of energy companies, the Minister of Industry and Trade finally announced that he would prepare a compensation programme for companies in the manufacturing industry. He plans to submit a first aid proposal to the government in September. He, too, does not seem to want closed businesses and masses of redundancies.
Most of the articles in this issue look to the future. The companies we write about here are moving on, albeit often with maximum effort and a certain amount of ad hoc creativity. And not only are they producing, but they are also engaging in research and development, further increasing automation and robotics. They are transforming themselves in the context of the transition to electromobility. They are working with universities on new solutions. It is worth reading what is being developed in cooperation with the corporate sector, for example, at VŠB-TU Ostrava.
It is also worth reading other texts. You will learn how to protect yourself against cybercrime. You will learn why Petr Kuchyňa, the head of KIEKERT-CS in Přelouč, thinks that the situation will never improve. Or why Deloitte ČR partner Josef Kotrba points out that our ancestors were not hairy. And you can also take an electric car to Split with us. This report in particular is proof of how fast the automotive industry is evolving: The Powerpass charging card we used in July is now smarter again.
But what is the introduction of the new charging card function compared to what ŠKODA AUTO presented on our deadline day! The carmaker showed off its new electric model, the Skoda Vision 7S, and with it, a new logo and new plans.
