Also, first thing I noticed about this article. "Any Slovaks reading this are going to be very upset that they have been referred to as "east" European.

That aside, it is a rather unique situation, the country (the geographic area specifically, forgetting past borders) has a long history with the automotive sector and associated tooling and skills. During communism the region produced tanks and other vehicles for the military. After the collapse of the USSR and the dissolution from Czechia all those jobs were suddenly redundant. A lot of the older Slovaks resent the split for this reason (ignoring the general turmoil in the labor market associated with ending state owned enterprises etc.).

When car manufacturers realized they had a cheap labor market with the historical skills base they pounced, and now margins are being pushed. I have family in Slovakia, and, not to paint with a board brush, but the growing middle class is becoming more aspirational, is tends to be the case with growing middle classes.