Prague, Sep 8 (FN Agency) Recent natural disasters in Slovenia have resulted in the failure of a plant supplying important components to the Czech Republic’s car maker Skoda Auto, forcing the company to announce a temporary reduction in production capacities, Czech news outlet E15 reported Thursday. The country’s weather agency said that up to 200 millimeters (7.8 inches) of rain had fallen in some areas of the country in early August. The vicinity of Celje, the country’s third-largest city, was hit particularly hard. The military and police mobilized helicopters and personnel to assist evacuations in affected areas. The authorities said flood damage was estimated at 4.7 billion euros ($5 billion), and they will allocate up to 7 billion euros over the next five years to rebuild affected areas. Skoda Auto plants located in the Czech city of Mlada Boleslav and the village of Kvasiny have been forced to temporarily reduce car production due to problems at a plant in Slovenia that supplies components for the Czech company, caused by recent natural disasters in the country, the report said, citing the company’s statement.
According to estimates, the restriction will be in effect for two weeks, but will not affect the production of the all-electric model Skoda Enyaq. The company’s management reassured customers that all its services are working to restore full production capacity as soon as possible. “Our services are working hard to ensure that the possible impact of the current problems on production is minimal, and our customers are delivered the maximum possible number of vehicles. We will coordinate all our actions with our social partner – the KOVO trade union federation,” the media quoted the company’s statement. German car-maker Volkswagen, Skoda’s parent company, has limited the production of cars for an unspecified period at the plants in the German cities of Hanover and Wolfsburg for the same reasons as Skoda, the report said. Volkswagen’s plant in Portugal has also reduced car production until November 12.