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2023/09/05 / Erste Group Research

CEE Special Report | EVs to shape CEE automotive sector


The CEE region, mainly Slovakia, Czechia, and Hungary, has firmly established itself as a highly efficient automotive manufacturing hub worldwide. Despite experiencing a slight decrease in production during the post-Covid era, the region has surpassed Germany in nominal car production in 2022. However, the rising tide of EV market poses several challenges for the CEE car manufacturing sector, while also raising questions about the willingness of CEE customers to embrace new technologies.

Thus far, the CEE region has been lagging behind in terms of EV sales and fleet size compared to the rest of the EU. This situation arises due to elevated pricing of EVs, less developed charging infrastructure, non-existent low emission zones in major cities, and insufficient or complicated incentive schemes.

From a manufacturing point of view, electric vehicles have vastly different cost structures as opposed to traditional internal combustion engine cars. Some subsectors in the automotive industry could become obsolete, while new subsegments are already emerging. The most significant subsector would be the battery manufacturing industry, which is presently dominated by China. CEE has the opportunity to position itself as a counterbalance to Chinese dominance by supplying batteries and other EV components to the European market. Furthermore, CEE should remain the hub for car manufacturing since established carmakers are already realizing their plans to electrify existing factories or build new ones.


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General information

AuthorErste Group Research
Date2023/09/05
Languageen
Product nameCEE Economies Special Report
Topic in focusFX, Macro/ Fixed income
Economy in focusCEE
Currency in focus-
Sector in focus-
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