Strategic Evaluation of Opportunities in the Polish Automotive Market, 2017–2022

Automotive is the second largest industry in Poland that plays a key role in the Polish economy and provides employment to more than 187,000 residents. Because of geographical proximity and membership in the European Union, the Polish automotive industry exports 80% of its production to the EU markets. The study features detailed import and export breakdown by the categories of automotive products (passenger vehicles (PVs), light commercial vehicles (LCVs), buses, automotive parts, and other products) and the fastest-growing part segments.

Several multi-national OEMs assemble PVs (such as FIAT and Opel) and commercial vehicles (such as Volkswagen and MAN), as well as buses (such as MAN and Volvo) on the territory of Poland. Toyota and Mercedes-Benz have chosen Poland for their engine production plants. In the entire Polish automotive industry, there are only 3 companies with Polish capital, and all of them focus on manufacturing of buses. The supply chain of the Polish automotive industry consists of more than 1000 companies and suppliers. Even big, internationally recognized brands, such as Bridgestone, Delphi Technologies, Faurecia, Magneti Marelli, Michelin, TRW, and Valeo, supply assembly parts to Polish-based manufacturers. When all companies that are involved in the manufacturing of motor vehicles in Poland are put on the map, one region is clearly distinguished as the center of automotive manufacturing, the Silesian region, which accounts for 70% of the country’s vehicle production.

The sales of new PVs experienced strong growth at 9.2% CAGR in the last 5 years because of a stable Polish economy and increasing purchasing power of Polish consumers. Nevertheless, the Polish automotive industry is also characterized by a high volume of used car imports, which amounted to 1.04 million units in 2016. Until 2017, import of used vehicles was more than 2 times larger than the volume of new vehicle registrations. The consequence of large used car imports is increasing age of Polish vehicle parc, which creates demand for replacement parts in the aftermarket. The study provides a strategic overview of the Polish aftermarket, including key trends and dynamics, market size by part category in 2017 and 2022, and aftermarket revenue breakdown by sales channel.

Lastly, according to Polish manufacturers and distributors of automotive parts, the trend that will have the biggest impact on the Polish automotive industry is electromobility. The Polish government has already started execution of its Electromobility Plan, the goal of which is to have 1 million electric vehicles (EVs) on Polish roads by 2025. Despite EV purchase incentives placed by the government, Poland faces powerful restraints that prevent the EV market from growing.