In high gear

More than 715,000 cars were produced in Poland in 2006, up from 612,000 in 2005. Passenger-car production rose by 15.5 percent to reach 608,919 units.

Fiat remains the biggest car manufacturer in the country - over 281,000 cars left the company's plant in Tychy in 2006. This represented a 3.2-percent increase year-on-year and gave the Italian manufacturer a 46.3-percent market share among producers in Poland.

But Fiat faces growing competition from Opel. The General Motors-owned producer increased production in its Polish plant in Gliwice by 47 percent to over 186,000 cars. Opel's market share is now at 30 percent. "Last year was the first full year of producing the Opel Zafira in the Gliwice plant. The model's contribution to the plant's output could be fully seen last year," GM's spokesperson Wojciech Osoś explained. He didn't want to disclose the company's plans for production levels this year. However, Osoś said that in September the plant will start producing the Astra III sedan. "It will only be produced in Gliwice," Osoś said.

Volkswagen, the third-largest producer in the passenger-car segment, manufactured over 89,000 cars in Poland last year, which gave it a 14.7-percent market share. However, VW has dominated the van-production market. Out of around 106,000 vans produced in Poland in 2006, 78,000 were made in VW's Poznań plant, giving it a 73.4-percent share in the segment. In second position on the van-production market is Fiat, which produced 26,700 units.

The vast majority of vehicles produced in Poland are exported. According to Automotive Market Research Institute Samar, 96.3 percent of passenger cars were exported, while for vans the figure stands at 92.7 percent.