Abstract
Keywords: Automotive production, Central Europe, Transition & Innovation Process
Automotive industry was key attraction in Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) for Central Europe last 15 years... and changed the situation of all V4 countries in and out of them. From yesterday - oil products were plentiful and cheap, weight of products was not a real problem, lightweight materials were expansive (plastic, aluminium, magnesium), manufacturers had a strong "mechanical culture", protecting of environment was not between priorities as it is today. The Central European Countries
- Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Poland and Romania can more competitively satisfy the needs of automotive industry - final producer and supplier companies - than any other regions (South America, South Europe, partly Asia) in the world, which are "newcomers" too. Today´s material and energy choice criteria are more stringent
- consumer demands (performance, safety, comfort, price) [L1],
- technical constraints (mechanical and thermal factors, material usage) [L5],
- environmental constraints (consumption, pollution, noise, recycling ) [L7], but main
- human resources and creativity for all not only for j. v. companies [L15].
Last ten years the automotive sector is the biggest success mainly for the Czech and Slovak economic transition. From 1997 to 2005 production in the sector increased over 100 % of revenue. Potential of V4 (CR, SR, H, PL) countries is for next 50-100% of increase in output and over 50% in human resources for automotive and related production... also in some economical criterions and goals.