Slovakia must invest more in eco-friendly cars, say analysts

Downsizing and reducing the number of working shifts recently announced by Slovak carmakers are not the result of a long-term trend but of uncertainty on the global market, including Brexit and the US-China trade war, Vladimir Balaz, an economist of the Slovak Academy of Sciences, has told TASR. However, various analysts have concurred that Slovakia is lagging behind in preparations for the manufacture of more eco-friendly vehicles and that the Slovak automotive industry needs immediate investments into innovations. "Without further investments, it can easily happen that we will end up outside the mainstream of global automotive development," UniCredit Bank analyst Lubomir Korsnak said. "Although this might not take place in the next two years, our carmakers will gradually lose competitiveness," he warned.