Hungarian automotive industry: week 34
Kirchhoff hands over new warehouse, Knorr-Bresme establishes new brand for aftermarket products, new local orders keep Hungary’s bus manufacturing busy. Let’s recap what week 34 brought in Hungary’s automotive industry.
Bus manufacturing
The National Bus Procurement Committee has been officially formed by the Hungarian government. Its operation will be overseen by a workgroup under the same name.
 |
| National Bus Procurement Committee officially formed by gov't |
In related news, following the procurement of 61 new buses last week by the North-Western Hungarian Transport Centre (ÉNYKK), the Southern Transdanubian Transport Center (DKK) has now bought 52 new Hungarian-built buses to update its existing fleet.
Suppliers
Esztergom-based parts manufacturer Kirchhoff handed over a new warehouse last week, built with a HUF 1.3 billion investment.
Shinwa is a company located in Miskolc engaged in the production of A/C control units, audio frontends, functional button sets for European, Asian and American OEMs.
Zsolt Bottyán, the CEO of the Hungarian plant, told us about the site’s current activities and new technologies, highlighting the latest additions to manufacturing such as an automatic control system and production supply.
 |
| Zsolt Bottyán of Shinwa Hungary |
Knorr-Bremse has established a sub-brand under the name TruckServices. The new group will include aftermarket products and services.
Trailer coupling manufacturer Bosal Hungary handed over its new production site back in January. Company director Pál Gajda said they are expecting a 20 percent growth and an annual production volume of 740,000 couplings for 2016.
 |
| Knorr-Bremse establishes new brand for aftermarket products and services |
Labour force
A hot topic last week was the Hungarian government’s plans to reduce tax payments in order to contribute to securing and improving the current workforce. We interviewed László Parragh, chairman of the Chamber of Industry and Commerce.
Held at the Győr-Gönyű Harbour, the 7th Formula Student Hungary lined up 44 teams, including four teams from Hungarian universities. The event was dominated by German and Italian teams.
 |
| German and Italian teams dominate at FSH 2016 |
The continued development of the industry is posing a significant challenge to education, as it is required to supply highly-qualified engineers with both theoretical and practical know-how.
Óbuda University has plans to introduce a new system in September 2017 that combines the two methodologies.
