An Introduction to Polish Auto Parts Industry

Since Poland entered the EU market in 2004, its auto industry boomed, with first position in car sales occupying Eastern Europe, and a sales volume of 0.7 million in 2006. This has greatly stimulated the prosperous development of the Polish auto parts industry.

  •  Poland has a large well-developed market for auto parts

The 2004 sales volume of Polish auto parts reached 2.45 billion US $. Part producers account for  81% of 2283 auto related companies，who mainly provide components for auto makers such as VW, Audi, Fiat, Toyota, etc. They produce twenty types of parts such as engines, cooling systems, pistons, oil pumps and gear-boxes which are of high quality. D-YD diesel engines produced by Toyota are of a good example, which can reduce waste less than the EU 4 Standard.

   •  Huge car ownership in Poland bring a potential market for auto parts

The population of Poland is around 39 million, owning over 15 million autos, 11 million of which are all cars and it is foreseen that cars will exceed 15 million by 2010. This big auto consumption market will set up a good foundation for the further expansion of the auto parts sector.

   •  Second-hand cars stimulate the needs of auto components

Entering the European Union, there are no restrictions towards second-hand car import; no extra value added tariffs on the cars stimulating the import of used cars. Each month, some 80,000 cars come to Poland, roughly 90% of which are over 4 years old and need some repair work. However, neither the country's franchised garages nor suppliers of cheap Asian-made parts have seen the business pick up. “It was just last year(2006) that the spare parts market grew by 14%, and the year before it was estimated to be worth some PLN 8.5bn,”according to Alfred Franke of research company Motofocus.

   •  Imported parts occupy a large market share

The sudden increase of imported cars brings the urgent demand for overseas parts and accessories. Due to lack of funds, the local importers are unable to purchase more, due to the lack of storage and have to get only how much they need.

The imported parts are mainly from other EU countries, with Germany 37.26%, France 5.22%, and Italy 4.85%.

   •  Entering EU makes the market more open

EU regulations concerning the use of the spare parts market are also very important for independent distributors such as Fota. According to such laws, workshops can apply products of quality comparable to OEM parts in repairs and servicing of cars during guarantee periods, which was not feasible recently.

In the last several years, the auto parts market has been growing by 5-10% annually. Similar growth is expected in the coming years.
The saturation of the automotive market is also important for the future of the spare parts market. It is closely related to the social wealth. Poland has one of the lowest saturation levels among the EU countries.