Aiming to produce 1.5 million cars with 10 years, Czech car manufacturer Skoda Auto said April 16 it would more than double its production. "Skoda Auto plans to produce 1.0 million cars by 2012 and, on condition that the world boom continues, we could reach 1.5 million cars in 2018," the biggest car producer in Central Europe and member of the Volkswagen Group said.
Production last year reached 661,000 cars with 630,032 cars delivered, a 14.5% rise compared with 2006.
Skoda Auto was unable to confirm details of how the production increase would be divided between its Czech and foreign plants. Skoda has a joint venture in China and assembly plants in India, Ukraine and Russia that are dependent on Czech produced parts.
The Czech agency CTK, citing Skoda Auto sales director Lubomir Kopecky, reported that most of the increased production could come from India, China and a new facility in South America. The Czech Republic could produce 700,000 cars a year, or up to 900,000 if its existing Vrchlabi plant is expanded, to meet the 1.5 million target, it added.
Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2008
