Standing on the factory floor of the new Kia car factory in north-west Slovakia, a careful scan of the welding area reveals that the only things moving are the bright yellow Hyundai robots: there is not a person in sight.

“Labour costs in Slovakia are lower, but people seeing the factory are surprised it is so state-of-the-art,” says In-Kyu Bae, president and chief executive of Kia in Slovakia, a unit of South Korea’s Hyundai.