Commercial vehicle producers hit by rising car imports

The fall in sales of new cars, accompanied by an increase in the import of used vehicles has had a knock-on effect on the largest domestic producers of commercial vehicles - Autosan and Jelcz, companies belonging to the Zasada Group. According to an Economy Ministry analysis, such partnerships - not closely tied to sector investors - "seem to have no financial or techn ological support [and] have no means of surviving in the long term". The Ministry also predicts that the weaker of the two companies, Jelcz, may soon go bankrupt. The president of Zasada is indignant to hear such news. "We hope that the minister will deeply analyze the reasons for this situation and take the necessary steps to prevent a worsening of the situation of commercial vehicle producers. Why is Daewoo-FSO receiving help and Jelcz not? The two companies have a similar status and the State Treasury owns similar stakes in both partnerships," said Zasada president Franciszek Gaik. In order to fight the crisis, the Group will lay off about 500 employees from its subsidiaries. The company is also selling off its redundant assets and consolidating by co-ordinating the marketing and promotional activities of its bus-producing divisions. (Puls Biznesu, pp. 1, 3) M.M.