Hungarian automotive industry: week 17 2022

In its plans for 2022 Hajdu Autotechnika Zrt. is set to put special emphasis on businesses promoting electrification and electric vehicles.

The Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA) will once again hold its industrial exhibition for the Central Eastern European (CEE) region. However, due to pandemic restrictions, the expo will be held as an online event on May 31st. The Taiwan Trade Mission 2022 event will primarily offer a platform for automotive companies to facilitate the networking efforts of Hungarian suppliers.

Mercedes students excel at student competition Professional Star Festival (Szakma Sztár Fesztivál). Since the beginning the Mercedes-Benz Kecskemét plant has been committed to the training of future professionals in vehicle manufacturing. The success of students from the plant’s education centre proves the efficiency of practice-oriented training, which provides students with up-to-date skills and automotive know-how.

The competition also saw two students from Audi Hungaria finishing in podium positions. Students competed in a total of 65 career fields in three rounds testing both theoretical and practical knowledge to qualify for the finals held in Budapest.

University of Miskolc signs cooperation agreement with Jabil’s Tiszaújváros plant. As part of the agreement, a Jabil Automation Education and Innovation Centre will be built at the Tiszaújváros unit, allowing the company to take a leading role in innovation, technology and knowledge transfer.

Mercedes-Benz among the most attractive employers in Hungary. The Randstad Award has acknowledged Hungary’s most attractive employers for the ninth time.

Magyar Suzuki Corporation likely involved in yet another diesel probe. Magyar Suzuki Corporation confirmed last week to economic daily Világgazdaság that there is currently an ongoing investigation into diesel vehicles manufactured at the plant earlier on.

“Our company is currently being informed in the matter and is cooperating in all areas with foreign and Hungarian authorities,” it told Világgazdaság. “We wish to stress that Magyar Suzuki complies with regulations in force in all circumstances and operates in line with those regulations,” the company added. Magyar Suzuki said the company “can share no further information on an ongoing matter”.

Soon after announcing the suspension of orders for certain variants of the Enyaq, after a week of stoppage Škoda has finally restarted the electric SUV’s production at its Czech plant. According to the company’s announcement, Škoda will gradually ramp up production for the Enyaq with an initial weekly capacity of a thousand units.

BMW is stopping production at its Regensburg plant for one week due to semiconductor shortages. One-third of all employees at the Regensburg unit are affected in the stoppage.

Russian energy giant Gazprom announced on April 27th that it had suspended gas transfers to EU countries that failed to fulfil Russia’s demand to pay in roubles. So far, this has been the most severe Russian response to the sanctions from the West. The country primarily affected by the step is Poland, although OEMs in the country have so far not reported on disruptions in production.

Mercedes reports on growing profit margin despite decreasing sales volumes. Mercedes-Benz reported on a €5.2 billion pre-tax profit in the first quarter of 2022, which shows a clear-cut improvement year on year. This was achieved despite a 10 percent sales drop.