Lidové noviny reports that Škoda Automobile is agonizing over the question of whether to embark on the construction of a new factory. The company has found itself unable to keep up with demand, forcing some of its customers to buy the vehicles of other companies. “We expect demand to exceed our production capacity again this year,” says its spokeswoman Kamila Biddle. “The result will be longer delivery times.” Its current calculations suggest that things will only get worse and that the company lose as many as 200,000 customers in 2019. Its aim is to sell 2 million cars per year by 2025, which would be 800,000 more than this year. But the stakes are high, since decision comes at a time when the European market is no longer expanding and fears of recession are taking hold. It’s also unclear how the successfully company will manage the transition towards hybrid and electric vehicles, since its most popular model is the diesel Octavia. Already, some of its cars are being produced in Russia and the 45,000 of its new model, the Karoq, will be assembled in Germany next year.
