Hungarian automotive industry: week 1 2017 edition
At the 2017 Consumer Electronics Show (CES), Carlos Ghosn, the Chairman and CEO of Nissan, announced several technology and partnership agreements that aim for a future with zero emissions and free of lethal traffic accidents. Although in the first week of 2017 all eyes were on Las Vegas, let’s recap what the new year has brought in Hungary’s automotive industry.
Manufacturers
Magyar Suzuki Corp. ended 2016 with a record high in its sales in Hungary.
The Japanese manufacturer’s Hungarian market share grew from 9.72 percent in 2015 to 11.67 percent in 2016.
 |
Ford closed a successful year in Hungary in 2016, helped by the fact that the car maker introduced 13 new or refreshed models last year.
Hungarian new car registrations also saw Ford leading the ranks in 2016.
 |
Suppliers
Győr-based machine builder Rekard Hajtómű- és Gépgyártó Kft. is expanding its production capacity with a HUF 500 million (€1.6 million) investment, half of which is provided from non-refundable European Union funds.
Service providers
96 out of every 100 companies in Hungary are affected by skills shortage. 81 percent of companies are in dire need of skilled workers, while every third company needs semi-skilled or auxiliary workers, while one fifth of them are lacking universiy graduates.
 |
Next year is looking to be an important one as vehicle importers are expecting the volume of imported vehicles to reach 100,000 units for the first time after the economic crisis.
Experts are anticipating import registrations to reach 132,400 across the entire domestic vehicle fleet.
 |
The import market of passenger cars is still being heavily diluted by used car sales, shown by the fact that the average age of Hungarian-registered cars has still not started to drop significantly.
