Nošovice Hyundai car plant
celebrates 10 years
8 minutes of reading | 2.11.2018
On Saturday 3rd November the Nošovice-based Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Czech (HMMC) car plant, the only Hyundai car plant in the EU, is marking the 10th anniversary of the start of mass production at the site. During that time the assembly line has produced 2835000 cars, which have been exported to 66 countries. Initially, the factory produced the model Hyundai i30 and SUV Hyundai i35 and Tucson and MPV Hyundai i20 and Kia Venga. The latest model is the sports car Hyundai i30 Fastback N. HMMC employs 3190 people and a further 8700 work at subcontractors who followed the car manufacturer to the region.
On Saturday November 3rd
2018, it will be ten years since the first manufactured car, the first-generation
Hyundai i30, rolled off the assembly line. It was followed by another and then
many more, and in ten years there were 2,835,000. They went to customers in 66
countries – as HMMC is the only Hyundai production facility in the European
Union, it is understandable that most have been delivered to European
countries. Cars from Nošovice are also driven in Australia, Mexico, South
Africa and Saudi Arabia. The biggest customers in 10 years were the following
countries: 1. Germany (359000 cars delivered), 2. the United Kingdom (264000),
3. Russia (202000), 4. Spain (180000), 5. Italy (171000), 6th Czech Republic
(99000), 7th France (98000), 8th Poland (92000), 9th Austria (91000) and 10th
Belgium (87000). 3.5 % of production was sold on the Czech domestic market, and
96.5 % was exported.
In addition to complete cars, HMMC produces gearboxes. In the past decade, a
total of 3969000 have been produced, of which 1754000 were used in the
production of Hyundai cars in Nošovice, and the remaining 2215000 gearboxes
were exported to sister plant Kia Motors Slovakia (KMS) in Žilina and to
Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Rus (HMMR) in St. Petersburg.
In ten years, the HMMC has produced nine car models: Hyundai i30 1st generation, Kia Venga, Hyundai ix20, Hyundai ix35, Hyundai i30 2nd generation, Hyundai Tucson, Hyundai i30 3rd generation, sports Hyundai i30 N and Hyundai Tucson, mild hybrid. The latest version is the sports car Hyundai i30 Fastback N, whose mass production began on Thursday, November 1, 2018. The most-produced car is the Hyundai Tucson (812000 including an upgraded mild-hybrid version), followed by the Hyundai ix35 (603000), and in third place was the Hyundai i30 2nd generation (530000). The least produced are N-line sports special editions (8000 units in total), but the demand for them is many times higher than expected and we currently produce 1000 units a month.
In terms of engines, over a
ten-year period, petrol engines (60 %) predominate over diesels (40 %).
Currently the share of diesel is around 30 %. In the case of gearboxes, manual
(70 %) are more popular than standard automatics (24 %) and dual clutch
transmission (6 %).
In ten years, Hyundai has produced cars in a total of 65 colours. This enormous
number always includes several shades of basic colours such as white, black,
grey and silver, as these four colours are always most in demand. Nošovice has
also supplied special colours to large corporate customers. For example, the
Spanish bank Santander bought 820 cars Hyundai ix20 in its special shade of
red, the Czech Post office has cars in its postal blue, the Czech Fire Service
in its red and finally, the Forestry Commission of the Czech Republic use 439
Hyundai Tucsons in fir-tree-green.
The production cycle at Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Czech is 66 cars per hour.
Running three shifts, the plant produces nearly 1500 cars every 24 hours. The
production target for 2018 was set at 340000 cars.
Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Czech is not only a major car manufacturer and
exporter, but also a major regional employer. Currently, the Hyundai Motor
Manufacturing Czech plant employs 3300 people, 97 % of whom are Czech
residents, mainly people from the Moravian-Silesian region. Car manufacturer
Hyundai was followed to the Czech Republic by another 15 Korean companies which
have now established their Czech subsidiaries here, and which are the main
suppliers for production in Nošovice. These companies, in locations from Mošnov
to Ostrava, Frýdek-Místek, Karviná, Třinec and Český Těšín, would not be here
without the HMMC plant, and employ a further 8700 people, so the “Hyundai
Project” has created almost 12000 jobs.
Working conditions, employee benefits, as well as salaries and bonuses are of
such a high quality that HMMC five times been names as “Employer of the Year”
in the Czech Republic in the category of up companies to 5,000 employees. The
average gross monthly income of HMMC employees (excluding about 40 Korean
managers who are paid by the parent company HMC) was CZK 39921 last year, and
in the blue-collar professions it was CZK 36839. The average in the
Moravian-Silesian region was CZK 26015 last year. In ten years, the company has
paid CZK 9.9 billion in wages to its employees.
Nošovice the Hyundai car plant is also a very important contributor of tax to
the state budget. Last year, the company paid CZK 2.28 billion, ranking it
seventh among corporate taxpayers. At the beginning of the project, the Korean
company Hyundai Motor Company, which was the project’s investor, received
investment incentives totalling CZK 5 billion. These incentives were always
paid retroactively – only after the investor invested the relevant amount.
Incentives accounted for 15 % of the total investment, which was over CZK 33
billion until the start of production (at the then valid euro exchange rate
against the Czech crown). And the fact that the investment incentives were
clearly a positive step for Hyundai is evidenced by the fact that in ten years
of production HMMC paid 12.6 billion crowns in taxes and health and social
insurance contributions and billions are paid every year.
The tenth anniversary of production launch is a moment of looking back and
taking stock, but also a moment of future prospects. Hyundai Motor
Manufacturing Czech firmly believes that despite tough competitive conditions
on the European market and the growing political pressures of European
structures, with inevitable impacts on car production, technology and final
price, it will continue to be a successful and stable car supplier to European
and non-European markets. It is understandable that thanks to Hyundai’s global
lead in alternative drive systems, HMMC in Nošovice will always be ready to
respond in time to legislative and market requirements.
Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Czech would like to thank all of our partners –
suppliers, dealers and especially my employees for their commitment and hard
work, without which our ten-year success would not have been possible.
Summary of number of cars produced at HMMC (as of 1st November 2018)
Model Production
period Number of cars Share
Tucson 2015 – 2018 712000 25 %
ix35 2011 –
2015 603000 21 %
i30 /2nd generation 2011 – 2017 530000 19 %
i30 /1st generation 2008 – 2012 370000 13 %
ix20 2010 294000 10 %
i30 / 3rd generation 2016 138000 5 %
Tucson (new) 2018 100000 4 %
Kia Venga 2009 – 2011 80000 2.5 %
i30 N 2017 8000 0.5 %
Total 3 835 000
