Successful Year for Black Horse – Only Local Producer of Car Batteries

After years of a turbulent experience with various investors, Black Horse from Sombor, the only local producer of car batteries, finally gained stability in 2022 with the new owner CEZ Industries from the Czech Republic. The year behind us will remain a good experience for Black Horse, because the company’s car batteries have returned to the market. This is confirmed by Petar Miljkovic, the company’s director.

– This is the beginning of the return to the market, and we expect that return to gain full traction next year. What has been done so far is that the servicing network has been created, which will primarily enable us to realize the planned dynamics of the business operations and to try to regain the part of the market that belonged to Black Horse next year. When we talk about our market, we always think about the Adriatic region. In addition to the servicing network that we’ve established, we’ve also signed over 40 agreements with local sales representatives – Miljkovic emphasizes.

Improvement of technology and creation of new jobs

As he says, everybody at Black Horse realized great technological upgrades and gained considerable market experience in 2022.

– The past year will be special for the fact that, after a long number of years, it will be positive financially, which means that the road to recovery has produced results, that the company is stabilized and that there are financial elements which enable the company to move toward new investment cycles in the future. In addition to that, this year was marked by the increase in the number of employees and the introduction of the second work shift. The second part of this year is drastically different from the first half when it comes to the operations of Black Horse. In mid-2022, in May and June, we did great overhauls, due to which we stopped the production process. After the overhaul, we relaunched the production, which is now two or three times more productive than before – Miljkovic reveals.
Efforts toward environmental permit by end-2024

One of the challenges lying ahead of Black Horse in the coming period will be to harmonize the production with the environmental standards.


Young experts have their important place at Black Horse

The agreement on cooperation with the Faculty of Technical Sciences from Novi Sad, which will enable students at the finishing years of this faculty to acquire knowledge and experience and develop as engineers at the company, is also of special importance.

– We have signed an agreement on cooperation with the Faculty of Technical Sciences and that is a long-term project which pertains to students at the finishing years who are working on their master thesis in the fields of robotics and automation. That project is yet to produce its full effects in the years to come. We have employed some workers, and I hope that there will be more in the coming period – Miljkovic points out.

Further growth and penetration of European market

The aim of the company in 2023 is the further growth of sales in the Adriatic region.

– The next important step is to complete the already initiated investments in the second half of next year and thereby enable Black Horse to stand shoulder to shoulder with the best producers of car batteries in Europe. The investment cycle has already started in cooperation with the Development Agency of Serbia, development funds and banks, which will enable Black Horse to once again position itself at the very top among the producers. We will try to be competitive with producers in east Europe – Miljkovic emphasizes.

Black Horse- FAS doo Sremska Mitrovica

Fakultet tehničkih nauka Univerziteta u Novom Sadu

Razvojna agencija Srbije

Black Horse

CEZ Industries

Faculty of Technical Sciences

Development Agency of Serbia

Petar Miljkovic

production of car batteries Black Horse

creation of new jobs

employment at Black Horse

introduction of second work shift at Black Horse

harmonization of Black Horse with environmental standard

environmental permit