Domestic producers suffer most amid automotive slump

The slump on Poland's automotive market is deepening, with first-half sales over 30% down from the same period of last year, and domestic car-makers are suffering the most. At the end of June their share of total sales of new cars stood at 47.9%, having shrunk significantly from the 73.5% in 1999 and 62% last year. According to Wojciech Drzewiecki, head of automotive market research company Samar, the reason for this is that the economic slowdown and rising unemployment have hit the buyers of cheaper cars the hardest, and domestic production accounts for more than half of all sales in this segment of the market. The two biggest domestic producers, Fiat and Daewoo, recorded falls in sales of 42.6% and 56.1% respectively in the first six months of the year. Such results are leading to job cuts across the industry. Car parts producers are estimated to have laid off some 3,000 workers already this year, and the number could double by the year's end. Industry analysts see hope for improvement, however. "After a slump expansion must follow. Poland is among the six or seven markets in the world with the best growth potential," said Warren Browne, managing director of General Motors Polska. (Puls Biznesu, p. 4) T.J.