Hyundai reduces production in Czech plant

The Hyundai plant in Nošovice in the Czech Republic is giving its employees every other Monday off until the end of the year. But workers are unlikely to be pleased about the days off, since it's part of a cost-savings plan developed by the company ahead of what it sees as an approaching downturn in the market. "After four years of growth in interest in our vehicles and exceeding the production plants, we felt a slight cooling in demand for the first time," Pavel Barvik, Hyundai's spokesman, told Mladá fronta Dnes. The plant has reduced its production plans by 2.8 percent, though Barvik added that one reason for the reduced demand could also be that new models are to be rolled out next year "We're still at the edge of the production capacity our factory was built for." The daily reports that the downturn is being felt in the neary by steel plant Libery Ostrava, where some workers have been sent on mandatory vacation on 70 percent wages.