In 2004 Poland was placed in the top three of countries offering the best localisation conditions for companies producing car components for the automotive industry. Foreign investors are invariably attracted to Poland by low labour costs, high qualifications of the labour force, as well as a network of 650 subcontractors, with 200 of them having the highest certificates of quality, the ISO/TS 16949. This is confirmed by the report prepared by Ernst & Young based on the managers’ views regarding the choice of the best location for new establishments.

The flow of foreign direct investments into the car manufacturing sector resulted in a dynamic development of the Polish subcontractors’ base. Automotive giants such as: Toyota, Isuzu, Volkswagen, MAN, Volvo, General Motors (Opel, Fiat) encourage companies cooperating with them to shift production to Poland.

The snowball effect following automotive investments (or re-investments) is the stimulation of development for more companies and creation of new jobs. Currently there are many companies - suppliers of the automotive sector, with the share of both Polish and foreign capital. For instance, the list includes seven car engine plants. Engines are slowly becoming “Polish specialty”.

Poland is also a leading manufacturer of components, such as:

• tyres,
• car seats and upholstery,
• car electronics,
• electric cables,
• car brake's systems.

Components manufactured in Poland are installed in cars of many brands, such as: Mercedes, Nissan, Opel, Porsche, Toyota, Volkswagen, Isuzu, Fiat, Citroen, Honda, Peugot, Volvo, BMW, Rolls-Royce, Lamborghini and Ferrari.

Automotive sector production centres are grouped around four agglomerations: Katowice, Wrocław, Poznań and Warszawa.

The Polish automotive sector is becoming more and more promising. This has been acknowledged by businesses presently operating on our market, which have recently taken steps to develop existing establishments (e.g. Michelin). Our market is witnessing the arrival of new investors e.g. Grupo Antolin, TRW, Lear, Nord, Voss, NTK, Dacel, NGK and Stahlschmidt & Maiworm.