Hyundai in Nošovice: how a Korean plant joined Škoda and Toyota in Czechia

Near Frýdek-Místek, in the foothills of the Beskids, a large Korean-owned car factory stands in a Moravian-Silesian village that few Czechs could have placed on a map twenty years ago. Nošovice entered the business news in autumn 2008, when the first cars rolled off a line built in about two years. The timing was awkward, with the global financial crisis just starting, but the plant stayed and became part of how Czech manufacturing works.

Here is the plant, its two bigger rivals, and what a car-heavy economy risks.

The plant at Nošovice

Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Czech (HMMC) is a subsidiary of the South Korean carmaker Hyundai Motor Company. The Czech government courted the investment in the mid-2000s with the usual package of investment incentives. The site near Frýdek-Místek was chosen partly because the region had unemployment problems after the decline of coal and steel, and partly for its position near the Polish and Slovak borders and good road and rail links.

The first model was the i30 hatchback. Over the years the plant has built other Hyundai models for the European market, including the ix20, the Tucson and the Kona. Production figures change with every model cycle, so use the Czech Statistical Office and the company's annual reports for current numbers (as of 2026; check the official source).

The plant has drawn suppliers with it. Several Korean component makers set up near Nošovice, and Czech suppliers from the region sell into the chain. The result is a cluster of industrial jobs in a region that needed them, plus training programmes run with local technical schools. For Moravia-Silesia, Nošovice is as much a regional development story as a car story.

Škoda, the old name

The Czech car industry is much older than Hyundai's arrival. Václav Laurin and Václav Klement began making bicycles in Mladá Boleslav in 1895 and soon moved to motorcycles and cars. Laurin & Klement merged with the engineering group Škoda in 1925. The Škoda brand survived nationalisation after 1945 and the communist decades, when its cars were exported across the Eastern bloc and, with a reputation that was often unflattering, to the West.

The turning point came after 1989. The government chose a foreign partner for the company, and Volkswagen was picked in 1991. The German group raised its stake step by step and later took full control. Škoda is now one of the largest industrial companies in the country and a major exporter. Its headquarters at Mladá Boleslav, with plants at Kvasiny and Vrchlabí, supports a very large number of suppliers around the country. The company's own reports describe its range and its place within Volkswagen.

Toyota in Kolín

The third plant is in Kolín, east of Prague. It opened in 2005 as Toyota Peugeot Citroën Automobile (TPCA), a joint venture to build small city cars; the Toyota Aygo, Peugeot 107 and Citroën C1 shared a design. In 2021 Toyota took over its partner's stake, and the factory now operates as Toyota Motor Manufacturing Czech Republic. It builds the small Aygo X, among other models.

Together, the three companies make Czechia one of the most car-intensive economies in Europe. The country produces well over a million cars a year, among the highest rates per head of population anywhere (as of 2026; check the Czech Statistical Office and the Automotive Industry Association).

Why this matters for the economy

The motor industry accounts for a large part of Czech manufacturing output and goods exports, and the effects spread through suppliers of seats, wiring, electronics and metal parts, many of them far from the assembly plants. That is a strength: stable, well-paid jobs, technology transfer and tax revenue. It is also a concentration risk.

The risk has three parts. First, the industry depends on demand in Germany and the rest of Western Europe, and a slowdown there reaches Czech factories fast (see Czechia and Germany). Second, the shift to electric vehicles changes the work. Electric cars need fewer powertrain parts, and battery production is concentrated in Asia, so Czech suppliers must adapt. Third, global supply shocks, like the semiconductor shortage that hit carmakers in 2021 and 2022, show how exposed a component-heavy industry is.

Hyundai is not the only Asian investor: Taiwanese electronics makers also run plants in Czechia, a link explored in Czechia and Taiwan. Czech policy has tried to broaden the industrial base, a goal that features in Czech investment incentives and in the start-up and research programmes in the Czech start-up ecosystem. How the national accounts treat the sector is covered in Czech GDP: how the Statistical Office counts it. Exporters also care about trade deals such as CETA and the exchange rate (see will Czechia adopt the euro). For a Czech maker of a very different vehicle, see Aero Vodochody and the L-159.

Incentives and the argument about them

Governments in Central Europe compete for factories with tax relief, help with training and infrastructure, and sometimes cash grants. CzechInvest handles applications for the Czech scheme. Economists disagree about the balance. Supporters point to jobs, exports and local spending. Sceptics note that foreign-owned plants send profits abroad, tend to do their most valuable research and design elsewhere, and can leave if conditions change. Nošovice is cited on both sides. Nobody disputes that it changed the economy of its district, or that the supplier network around it would not exist without the assembly plant.

The same logic applies to the other two. Škoda has a large design and development centre in Mladá Boleslav, which gives the Czech operation a technical role inside Volkswagen beyond assembly. Kolín remains mainly a production site. A country's place in a global industry depends on which of those functions it hosts.

Labour and wages

Czech factories compete for skilled workers, and the industry has long relied partly on foreign workers, notably from Slovakia, Poland and Ukraine. Wage rises and the role of trade unions in bargaining at the big car makers are a regular part of the news cycle. Anyone considering a job at a plant should read the contract carefully; the general rules are in how a Czech employment contract works.

Visiting and following the industry

Škoda runs a museum in Mladá Boleslav, and the Tatra truck heritage in Kopřivnice is not far from Nošovice. Hyundai's plant is a production site rather than a visitor attraction, and tours, where they exist, have to be arranged with the company in advance.

Frequently asked questions

Where is the Hyundai plant in Czechia?

In Nošovice, near Frýdek-Místek, in the Moravian-Silesian Region in the east of the country.

When did it start production?

The first cars were made in 2008, and the plant has built several models since.

Who owns Škoda Auto?

It belongs to the Volkswagen Group, which became the foreign partner after 1989 and later took full control.

What is Toyota's role in Czechia?

Toyota runs the plant at Kolín, which began as a joint venture with PSA in 2005 and has been fully Toyota-owned since 2021.

To see how big the sector is today, open the latest industrial production release on the Czech Statistical Office website and compare it with a year earlier.