Alen Vuksan-Ćusa: Car Manufacturers Now Prefer Producing More Expensive Models

The Auto Hrvatska business group represents and distributes a multi-brand offer of new and used vehicles, and considering that it represents several car brands with which it achieves notable sales results, it managed to have a successful 2021 despite many problems that loomed over the automotive industry. How they achieved this was explained to us by Alen Vuksan-Ćusa, Executive Director for the personal program of Auto Hrvatska and Director of Auto Hrvatska Automobili.

After the disastrous 2020 for the automotive industry, the market began to timidly recover in 2021, but new problems arose, primarily the shortage of chips and semiconductors, which also affected the speed of delivery of new vehicles. How did you cope with these shortages, did you feel them, and what measures did you implement to compensate for them?

– In comparison to 2020, revenues increased by as much as 25 percent last year. If we look at the fact that market activity was hampered, primarily due to pronounced production problems faced by certain suppliers, we solved the difficulties by focusing at Auto Hrvatska on those brands that had vehicles available for faster delivery to us, and then to our customers. In the previous year, which was a record year for us, we also started collaborating with the brands Seat and Cupra in Zadar and introduced a new brand to the Croatian market, DFSK, which offers personal and light delivery electric vehicles. Because of all this, we successfully navigated this and the previous year despite challenging market conditions.

What do you expect from this year and the next? Do you believe that the situation in the industry will remain the same or will changes occur?

– This year, a slowdown in the production of new vehicles is still felt among most car manufacturers. We have the impression that some manufacturers prefer to produce more expensive models because they achieve higher margins thanks to them. Although the total number of registered new vehicles in the Republic of Croatia is approximately six percent lower compared to last year, an important piece of information in assessing the market is the greater reduction in vehicle re-exports, which realistically shows that the Croatian market is even slightly larger than last year’s. Most manufacturers are hinting at the normalization of production timelines in the fourth quarter of this year.

What is your stance on electrification? Do you believe that the EU’s plan for everyone to drive electric cars by 2030 is achievable?

– Currently, electric vehicles account for about three percent of the total market in the Republic of Croatia, and we do not expect the cessation of production of vehicles with internal combustion engines in this decade. This year, there is also a visible increase in the sales of hybrid vehicles and a reduced supply of, for example, diesel engines. The sales of electric vehicles will continue to grow in the future, but for their greater market success, it will be necessary to implement legal measures and provide support to customers that will help their popularization.

What do you say about some studies that show that complete electrification by that year is an impossible mission and that it ultimately pollutes more than fossil fuel cars? The studies also refer to battery production, their storage, and disposal, which is not green at all, as well as the materials and parts of batteries that are impossible to recycle.

– It is known that significantly more energy is used to produce electric vehicles than for vehicles with conventional engines, those with internal combustion. One of the reasons for the poor results in the sales of electric vehicles should be sought in the insufficiently developed charging infrastructure, but also in the insufficient total amount of various state subsidies compared to, for example, Norway, the first country in Europe in terms of the number of electric vehicles sold.

Read the rest of the interview in the printed or digital edition of the business weekly Lider.