The automotive industry in Europe represents approximately 7% of the total gross added product and provides almost 14 million jobs. In Slovenia, this economic sector is even more important. It represents as much as 10% of Slovenia’s gross added product, almost 25% of total exports, and with 400 companies operating in this industry, it directly and indirectly provides over 40,000 jobs. Only 11 of the most prominent companies in the automotive industry will pay more than 450 million euros in salaries in 2022 and contribute 235 million euros in taxes.
To enable a sustainable growth of the sector, the Slovenian automotive industry needs a stable local economical environment. With this in mind, the largest automotive suppliers took the initiative and presented their goals and ambitions to the Slovenian government. The meeting within the GREMO Mission* framework took place beginning of September at IM premises. Several members of the government team, whose scope of work is closely related to the growth and development of the Slovene economy and the Slovenian prime minister, Dr. Robert Golob, joined the conversation on how to accelerate the transformation towards a digitalized and green mobility.
As a result of the discussions, the government expressed its support for the GREMO Mission as a strategic orientation of the automotive industry and will prepare a starting package together with the industry, according to which it will allocate funding in the amount of 30 million euros annually to the GREMO Mission between 2023 and 2027. The automotive industry, as one of Slovenia’s most important strategic industries, will invest over 500 million euros annually in research and development, with the focus of spending these funds primarily on projects with a targeted added value of 100,000 euros per employee. With the increase in taxes and contributions from the current 230 to 370 million euros per year, these state investments will quickly pay off in the coming years. According to the companies’ plans, the sales of the entire industry will grow from the current 5 billion euros to over 7 billion euros by 2030.
Following the example of developed automotive countries, the GREMO Mission is also preparing an appearance with the government in Brussels to prepare a special financial scheme aimed at the transition of the Slovenian automotive supplier industry with the goal of developing top-quality and breakthrough solutions for the green mobility of the future.
*An initiative of the Strategic research innovation partnership, SRIP ACS, is of national interest for ensuring the transformation and further growth of the Slovenian automotive supplier industry. It connects Slovenian suppliers and solution providers within 3 pillars: industry, science and government.