Austria’s automotive parts industry a key pacesetter for exports and jobs

Austria’s automotive parts industry has always been a key pacesetter and a strong driver of exports, with companies making their mark on global markets, routinely achieving record results and making a significant contribution both to a tangible increase in exports and a rise in Austria’s attractiveness as a business location.


Heavily dependent on exports, the sector outputs more than EUR 24 billion worth of goods every year and supports over 210,000 jobs.

The automotive sector is certainly a highly significant part of Austrian industry: some 900 companies are wholly or partially active in the automobile supply industry. It generates an output value of EUR 24.4 billion (up 6% on 2017) and an added value of EUR 7.4 billion in 2018. The supply industry is one of Austria’s most important sectors, employing over 80,000 people in 2018, although more than 210,000 jobs are indirectly associated with the car market.

The sector itself is currently facing the greatest transformation process in its history: digitalisation is seen as an absolutely fundamental change, giving rise to new and innovative manufacturing processes with Industry 4.0 applications, along with ever increasing internationalisation, eMobility and self-driving cars.

Economic success

The development of the Austrian Automotive Industry and its component suppliers is one of the most impressive stories of economic success of the past decades. In an increasingly competitive environment the Austrian Automotive Suppliers have consolidated their position. With an average growth of eight percent, they outperformed the Austrian economy as a whole, but also surpassed the growth of the total domestic production of material goods. Within the supply chain of the automotive production, the suppliers have become a driving force behind Austria’s econonomy: “If automotive suppliers are thriving, so is the whole economy, and so are we all!”

Securing Employment

The share of the Automotive Supplier Industry in the value added of material goods manufactured in Austria has increased to more than ten percent. The branch has become a major mainstay of the Austrian economy and secures employment in a hi-tech sector with an outstanding research level. Thanks to the success of the suppliers the value of automotive exports from Austria already is three times the value of car imports to Austria

The research-, innovation- and quality-oriented Austrian Automotive Industry and its component suppliers are an important and reliable partner of international car manufacturers and tier-one suppliers. The export share of about 90 percent reflects the dense global network of the branch.


Sources: WKO, Austrian Trade Commission

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