Construction of new BMW plant in Debrecen to begin in spring of 2020 - week 49 2019 edition
Audi launches serial production of hybrid model in Győr. Magyar Suzuki Zrt. welcomes new communications director. Hungarian companies unlikely to play substantial role in Berlin-based Tesla plant’s supplier chain. Let´s recap what last week brought in Hungary´s automotive sector.
Preparations are going according to schedule at the construction site of the new BMW plant in Debrecen. Construction works are expected to begin in the spring of 2020. The company is launching a recruitment campaign. The municipality of Debrecen is currently engaged in the preparation of the industrial zone in the town’s north-western periphery.
Audi Hungaria has launched the serial production of Q3 and Q3 Sportback models with mild-hybrid drivetrains. Both models are powered by a Győr-made, 1.5-litre TFSI engine together with a 48-volt electric network and a belt-driven starter generator.
Effective from the end of 2019, Zsuzsanna Bonnár-Csonka will take over as the communications director at Magyar Suzuki Zrt. She will be responsible for all aspects of corporate communications, including brand development and reputation management, press relationships, spokesperson tasks and the organization of corporate communications campaigns and CSR activities.
An employer of nearly 3,000 people, Hankook Hungary is engaged in the production of rubber tyres for passenger cars, SUVs and light trucks.
Rába Járműipari Holding Nyrt. is expected to sell one of its Győr-based properties for over HUF 2 billion after receiving a purchase offer from a leading European multinational enterprise.
Yanfeng Automotive Interiors, a Chinese company with a production site in Pápa, opened a new plant in central Serbia in late-November. The 18,500-square metre plant located near Kragujevac manufactures door trim and interior components with 200 employees.
Tesla has chosen North Germany as the location of its European plant due to the easy accessibility of trained labour and the logistical vicinity of Scandinavia and the Benelux states in comparison to South Germany. Hungarian companies are unlikely to play a substantial role in the plant’s supplier chain.
A total of 80,000 automotive jobs could disappear worldwide in the near future. The latest reports on layoffs came from Germany, but the USA and UK are also equally affected.
Although demand on programmers is still exceptionally high in Hungary, job ads still fail to properly address job-seeking developers.
In November, new-car sales in Hungary grew by 25 percent from the same period in the previous year with 14,215 units sold, the Hungarian Vehicle Importers’ Association (MGE) and Carinfo.hu reported last week.
“The changes in the CO2 penalty system require a few years for sufficient information to be gathered for the development of new business models,” the brand manager of Porsche Hungaria Volkswagen told autopro.hu in an interview. Balázs Dalnoki says the realistic annual sales volume of the Volkswagen Passat in Hungary is 2,000 units.
László Domonkos, the president of the Hungarian Court of Auditors (ÁSZ), said that in addition to tax cuts, job creation has also played a key role in the economic growth recorded in recent years. He added that the government must continue to support the creation of workplaces, but should turn its attention to labour programmes that improve efficiency, promote innovation and as a result move forward the country’s competitiveness.
“170 Japanese companies provide employment for 35,000 Hungarians, which is one of the reasons why it is important to maintain the dynamics of the development of Hungarian-Japanese relations,” Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó said in Tokyo last week.
