April results jump start Czech auto sector

Output by the Czech automobile sector for 2019 has slowed by less than 1 percent over the first four months of the year, with 492,065 vehicles having been completed. However, numbers released by the Automobile Industry Association (AutoSAP) show that a sharp uptick in output in April improved the far more depressed numbers of the first three months of the year. It took an increase in output of 7.6 percent in the fourth month to bring 2019's string of negative results under control. The TPCA factory saw output rise year-on-year 9.1 percent to 77,000, while Škoda Auto produced 0.7 percent fewer cars (310,000). The head of AutoSAP Zdenek Petzl told Zdoopravy.cz said that exports to Spain, Italy and France had helped the automobile sector turn the negative trend. "Despite taking a longer time to get going this year, producers are back at the edge of their production capacities."