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Don’t say it can’t be done until you try it, says Petr Michník from HMMC

Financial crisis, Covid, the emergence of Chinese competition – Petr Michník, head of the administrative division of Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Czech, has experienced several major upheavals at the carmaker in twenty years. Today, he considers one of the biggest problems to be the uncertainty surrounding European rules, which also affects decisions about which new models will be produced in Nošovice. At the same time, he reminds us that the European industry cannot attribute all its problems to Brussels and must also look for reserves within itself. ...

The American Auto Industry. Returning to Manufacturing as the Path to the Future

The United States remains one of the world’s largest and most important automotive markets. Beneath the surface of relatively stable sales numbers, however, the American automotive landscape is changing rapidly. Production is shifting to new regions, tariffs are affecting inves ...

How a cathedral is built according to Michal Pěchouček, Rector of CTU

Perspectives on cooperation between industry and universities often overlap. Companies are looking for quick, concrete solutions, while academia works on longer research horizons. But it is precisely in this tension that significant potential lies: if both worlds ...

Automated driving: Who is responsible?

The Czech Republic has entered a new “transport era” since the beginning of 2026. The amendment to the Road Traffic Act has enabled the operation of vehicles with conditional automated driving, i.e. at the SAE Level 3 level, on Czech roads. However, there ar ...

AUMOVIO Czech Republic. European research tested in the Brandýs factory

The Brandýslav plant is one of the most modern centers for the production of automotive electronics not only within AUMOVIO, but also in the entire industry. In addition to producing the most modern automotive technology, it is dedicated to development and strive ...

Hyundai Motor Europe: European regulation must be ambitious but also feasible

In December 2025, the European Commission presented a set of measures known as the Automotive Package, introducing targeted adjustments to emissions targets and greater flexibility in the approach to transforming the automotive industry. The proposed softeni ...

This is just the beginning. Every year will be harder, says Martin Jahn

The newly re-elected president of the Association of the Automotive Industry and a member of the board of directors of Škoda Auto, Martin Jahn, assesses the Czech automotive industry as healthy and standing on solid foundations, but expects that with the acc ...

Manufacturing is changing. Simulations are replacing trial and error

The interest of companies in cooperation with academia has increased in recent years, and industry is becoming more aware of the need for automation, robotization, and digitalization. According to Petr Šimoník, vice-dean for cooperation with industry and commerci ...

Hungary, an automotive miracle on the Danube

Hungary has become one of the important centers of the European automotive industry over the past ten to fifteen years, mainly thanks to German manufacturers. In addition to the car factories themselves, battery factories have been built or are still being built ...

Tatra is facing the biggest modernization in its history. The machines and the way of working will change, says its CEO Kristijan Fiket

After thirteen years, the CEO who left the company at a time when it was fighting for survival has returned to the helm of Tatra. Today, he faces the opposite pressure. There are more orders, especially from the defense industry, than the automaker can cover ...

This country needs to wake up, says Karel Havlíček, likely Minister of Industry and Trade

Instead of high incentives, a much more attractive business environment, competitive energy prices, reasonable tax regulations, a smart depreciation policy or better evaluation of research and development. Unification of criteria for strategic investmen ...

The Czech Republic has the potential to be a technological powerhouse. All it lacks is courage and vision.

Investment in science and research is not a problem, but their meaningful distribution is. Real change can only happen when people with vision and courage are in charge at all levels. This is exactly what we talked about with Professor Vladimír Mařík, founde ...

CEE Automotive Supply Chain 2025: Transformation without uncertainties. How to keep Europe in the global game?

How to keep Central and Eastern Europe attractive for business in times of energy uncertainty, regulatory pressures and geopolitical changes? What do supplier companies need to be able to face competition, especially from Chinese manufacturers? These were not the ...

Chinese cars on the European market. Luxury & technology instead of dumping

Politicians and the media in Europe have long claimed that cheap Chinese electric cars are flooding European markets, destroying the EU automotive industry. What is the reality? Is Chinese production conquering the old continent thanks to low prices? And is it co ...

CO₂ obsession. Are we aiming for the wrong target?

Tomáš Fürst, a mathematician and data analyst at Palacký University in Olomouc, says that models that try to predict the future can only be reliable if we know the physical laws on which the system is based. “We only know a little about the climate,” he ...

No one is as complex as we are

Tawesco was established by spinning off from Tatra in 1995, but in the media it remains in the shadow of Tatra to this day. Margita Rejchrtová has been its head for six years and says that exclusive dependence on the heavy truck manufacturer is a thing of the past. Tawesco is mainly ...

EU economics. If I paint a bison on the wall, I’ve actually almost hunted it

The European Union is not in crisis, but has a long-term problem, says Miroslav Singer, economist, former governor of the Czech National Bank, now director of institutional relations and chief economist at Generali CEE Holding. He does not want to guess what ...

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