Hungarian automotive industry: week 22
Mercedes-Benz Manufacturing Hungary launches mass production of facelifted CLA models, Credo to start manufacturing new model in Hungary. Suzuki celebrates 25 years of production in Hungary, Audi reports on mixed results, Opel Szentgotthárd CEO speaks about future plans. Let’s recap what week 22 brought in Hungary’s automotive sector.
Manufacturers
Last week, we interviewed Grzegorz Buchal, the new CEO of Opel Szentgotthárd. In addition to his personal experience so far and view on his new position, we asked him about the chances of restarting vehicle production at the Hungarian manufacturing unit, a plant currently engaged in engine production.
He answered by saying these decisions mostly depend on market demand, and currently there are no signs of any significant growth in the European car market.
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| Grzegorz Buchal, CEO of Opel Szentgotthárd |
The Kravtex-Kühne group will soon hand over Hungary’s largest bus manufacturing plant. The 10-metre long Credo Optinell is the company’s latest compact long-distance offering, which will be made at the new plant in Mosonmagyaróvár.
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Magyar Suzuki Corp. is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year. COO Róber Krisztián said that in 2015, Magyar Suzuki Corporation registered €1,976 million in sales revenues, up by 28 percent from the previous year.
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| Credo Optinell 10 to be made at Hungary's largest bus manufacturing plant |
Audi’s Győr-based plant now features collaborating robots, measuring panel gaps in the assembly shop.
In other news from the German car maker, Audi AG’s report on the first quarter shows rather mixed results. Production volumes were held back by decreasing production output at the group’s Hungarian plant.
In Q1 2016, Audi Hungaria manufactured only 27,641 vehicles, a massive drop from 43,872 units produced in the same period last year.
According to the car maker’s report published last week, the decline was caused by the Hungarian plant’s changeover to new A3 models.
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| Production volumes down at Audi Hungary in Q1 2016 |
Suppliers
BPW Hungaria is also celebrating its 25th anniversary. In the last quarter of a century, BPW-Hungária Kft. has become a definitive player in the Western Transdanubia region’s automotive industry.
The CEO of Bridgestone Hungary made an important announcement last week: by 2020, the company has plans quadruple the Hungarian unit’s production capacity.
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| BPW celebrates 25 years of production in Hungary |
Last week, we made an interview with András Somogyi, Robert Bosch Kft.’s new HR director, on the company’s appeal to employees, internal trainings, women in engineering positions and the requirements of the generation Y.
Service providers
We interviewed Tamás Horváth, CEO of IC Hungary Kft., about the possibilities of 3D metal printing. He said the technology is becoming more and more precise, and has the potential to eventually oust the need for the post-processing of metal parts.
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We also interviewed the CEE boss of Universal Robots. According to Slavoj Musilek, not only are their products capable of satisfying the requirements of international firms, but they are also flexible enough to comply with the ever-changing needs of SMEs.
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| Slavoj Musilek, CEE director for Universal Robots |
Economy
The Association of German Chambers of Industry and Commerce made a survey on the investment activities of German industrial firms.
According to some 2,500 respondents, the skills shortage in Germany is also a contributor to the high volume of investments in Hungary.
In May 2016, 8,506 passenger cars were registered in Hungary, up by 45 percent from the same month in the previous year, according to a report published last week by the Hungarian Vehicle Importers Association (MGE).
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| New car registrations up by 45 percent in May |
Hungary’s unemployment rate has never been this low in the last ten years, placing us in fifth place within the EU 28, according to data from April 2016.
