“Tesla awarded us two orders, but with the condition that we manufacture the parts in the USA within two years. That is, cheaper than in the Czech Republic, which is losing its competitiveness,” says Juříček, who served as an MP for the ANO movement during the previous government of Andrej Babiš.
Brano has agreed with a local partner from whom it will rent a production hall. It is located in the state of Georgia in the east of the USA and covers 20,000 square meters. Juříček has not yet specified which specific parts he will manufacture here, allegedly for competitive reasons. Nevertheless, Elon Musk’s car company is supposed to deliver hundreds of thousands of these products annually.
The two orders are expected to bring the factory’s initial turnover to $5.2 million. If the plant is to make a profit, according to the Czech supplier’s calculations, it must generate a turnover of at least twelve million annually. Only Tesla can provide such a market in the future. In the medium term, Brano can generate sales of up to 25 million dollars thanks to orders for other car manufacturers.
“It’s not just about Tesla, Volkswagen is produced in the nearby state of Chattanooga, Audi is also nearby. In the next few days, my team is flying to America to negotiate the details with Tesla and the landlord of the hall. My son and I will fly to sign the contract when it is finally ready, probably in the fall,” Juříček adds. Seznam Zpravy also reported on his intention earlier.
Juříček’s company initially invests units of millions of dollars, which will mainly go into machines and technologies with which to equip the hall. Brano will construct the production line in the Czech Republic, where the development and final tests of auto parts will also remain. Their final assembly will then take place overseas.
Dozens of local employees will initially work in the newly built plant, whose monthly remuneration is usually around three thousand dollars. Czech Brano employees – mainly adjusters and programmers – will take care of the initial preparation of the hall, i.e. the installation of a partially automated and robotic production line.
Juříček has been warning for a long time about the loss of competitiveness of the Czech Republic and Europe in comparison with the United States or some Asian countries. This is also the reason why Tesla will not be supplied from the Czech Republic, but from the newly planned hall in the USA.
Juříček claims that while in the Czech Republic the price of electricity for his company rose from 111 euros per megawatt hour to 181 euros at the beginning of this year, in the USA the price starts at the dollar equivalent of forty euros. According to him, the lower tax burden to which he is subject in the state of Georgia also represents a competitive advantage. Brano has also been active in China for a long time, where this year it won contracts worth fifty million dollars. It is also looking at expanding into India.
As Deník N pointed out, Brano continues to do business in Russia as well. Eleven years ago, it opened a new plant there for a quarter of a billion crowns in Nizhny Novgorod in the west of the country. It produced, for example, pedals, door locks and other parts for a number of car companies, including Volkswagen and Nissan, among others. However, Western car companies withdrew from the country after the announcement of anti-Russian sanctions. Unlike Bran.
It did lose a number of customers with the departure of car companies, but by no means all. It currently supplies, for example, the Russian car manufacturer VAZ, which produces cars under the Lada brand. Bran also managed to win new customers. “We supply a little for Chinese car manufacturers,” Juříček told the newspaper.
