Hungarian automotive industry: week 21

Manufacturers

Last week, Thomas Geier, plant director at Mercedes-Benz Manufacturing Hungary Kft., held an annual financial report in Kecskemét along with the manufacturer's Hungarian importer.

Geier said that since its launch in 2012, the Kecskemét plant has produced over 300,000 vehicles. Since May 2014, cars have been manufactured in three shifts, while last year the plant's headcount increased from 3,200 to 4,000.

See our gallery from a factory visit to the plant here.

Factory visit at Mercedes-Benz Kecskemét

One of the hot topics of the previous week was the speculation surrounding Tata's move to build a new plant in Central Europe.

Péter Szijjártó, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, went to Asia to hold talks with Indian partners. The Minister also spoke to the head of Tata, owner of Jaguar Land Rover.

Slovakian sources claim that nor Hungary or the Czech Republic are among the possible candidates as a location for a new Jaguar plant in the CEE region. According to the sources, Nitra, Slovakia, is the most likely candidate.

However, reports published at the end of the week claimed the contrary, saying Hungary is still very much in the game. A decision is expected to be made soon.

Suppliers

Hankook has handed over the third phase of their investment project in Hungary. The EUR 313 million expansion project in Rácalmás has created 950 new jobs, boosting the plant's annual production capacity to 19 million tyres.

Hankook hands over third phase of investment in Rácalmás

Szombathely has joined the development of intelligent cars: TDK group-member Epcos has carried out a HUF 10.5 billion investment. The Szombathely-based company launched its largest investment project yet in 2013. The end result is a 14,000-square-metre R&D and production centre, inaugurated last Friday. The company will hire 200 employees.

Chinese Shanghai Feilo Acoustics Co., Ltd. has announced to build a LED-lamp manufacturing plant in Sárospatak, Hungary. A declaration of intent on a EUR 30 million investment was signed last week.

Kontakt-Elektro Kft., manufacturer of electronics equipment, switchboards and control boards, has built a new production hall. The new facility in Pécs was handed over last Friday.

Epcos hands over HUF 10.5 billion investment

France-based Axon has built a cable manufacturing plant in Kecskemét with a greenfield investment project.

It was announced last week that Schäfer-Oesterle Kft. would build a new production hall and create 150 jobs at Bonyhád Business Park. An agreement on a HUF 500 million investment was signed last Thursday.

IGM celebrated its 25th anniversary last week, reporting on its major milestones from the past quarter century.

Kontakt-Elektro expands in Pécs

Continental announced to acquire the automotive division of Elektrobit Oyj. The move is part of the supplier's plans to strengthen its driverless technologies.

Service providers

The outdated vehicle fleet of Pécs, a county seat in southwestern Hungary, has been being updated within the scopes of Buszcsere (Bus Replacement) programme since 2013. The newly purchased Credo buses, fitted with Allison automatic transmission systems, have proved their efficiency and reliability.

Last week, ABB handed over a new direct current fast charger in Bükkaranyos. This is the first fast charger in Hungary powered by energy harvested from wind turbines.

Kravtex buses enter operation in Pécs

E-chargers were also handed over in Tiszaújváros and Kapuvár. The chargers in this case are powered by solar energy.

PwC held its third regional automotive conference in Bratislava last week, offering an overview of growth opportunities for Hungary's and Slovakia's automotive industry.

Education

Mach-Tech Exhibition housed the TechTogether GTE Mach-Tech automotive student team competition. The aim of the competition was to offer talented students an opportunity to meet companies seeking a freshly trained workforce.

Automotive student competition Mach-Tech held at Hungexpo

The Hungarian Investment Promotion Agency (HIPA) has joined the Agreement on Automotive Higher Education and Research Cooperation (JEM). The initiative is one of the pillars of the Agency's TIER UP! programme, which is offering trainings for Hungarian SMEs.

According to the Hungarian government, a large number of Hungarian youths are planning to return to Hungary and seek employment in the country. However, the initiative, announced by Sándor Czomba, Secretary of State of the Ministry for National Economy, so far has only managed to reach out to a few hundreds of people.

According to a new report, the top 10 list of professions in demand has been led by skilled labourers for the sixth consecutive year, followed by drivers and engineers in second and third places, respectively.

Economy

Gross average wages increased by 4.1 percent at enterprises employing over five people and non-profit organisations. Exlcuding the public sector, gross average wages increased by 3 percent in the first quarter in 2015, reported the Hungarian Statistical Office (KSH).

HUF vs. EUR week 21. Source: portfolio.hu

The forint started off the week with a weak performance and after a short consolidation mid-week, it closed where it started on Monday.

We cannot say the same for the Hungarian currency's performance against the U.S. dollar. The American currency's strengthening resulted in a weak forint all week.