Hyundai has established a major presence in the Czech Republic, with its plant in Nosovice in the east of the nation producing 300,000 cars per year. Five body styles are produced there, including the three shapes of i30, its baby brother the ix20 and the ix35 soft-roader.
The facility is a major part of the community, employing 3440 people, predominantly local, and being the catalyst for a supply chain that has sprung up to service the demand for parts and raw materials.
It’s fitting that a major car manufacturer should base its operations in the Moravia region of the country, because it has a rich motoring history.
Just half an hour’s drive west of Hyundai’s factory is a museum celebrating Tatra, one of the most famous of the Eastern European car marques.
Born in 1850 as a carriage maker, Tatra embraced car making in 1897, making it the third-oldest motor manufacturer in the world behind Daimler and Peugeot.
Unlike its peers, however, Tatra ceased making cars in the late 1990s and focused on its more successful heavy-truck business.
Due to the old Czechoslovakia’s position within the Communist Bloc, for years Tatra’s products remained relatively unknown in the West, although today there remains a strong cult following for them.
During a visit to Hyundai’s production facility earlier this week, we had the opportunity to detour to the Tatra museum in the middle of Koprivnice, the town where the manufacturer was born.
More at http://www.autocar.co.uk/blogs/anything-goes/quick-tour-around-weird-and-wonderful-tatra-museum