Hungarian automotive industry: week 46
Last week, we paid a visit to Audi´s Győr-based car factory, Rába reported on decreasing revenues and net loan and several suppliers made important announcements. BKK will buy another 200 new buses but it seems Hungarian manufacturers are still not favoured.
Not only is Audi Hungaria the world's largest engine plant but also Hungary's largest production unit. Last week we paid a visit to the German car maker's Hungarian subsidiary, where we had a glance at the assembly hall, the press shop and the chassis shop.
Rába's consolidated turnover as well as the company's net loan decreased in Q4 2014. "Rába has been focusing on business development this year," said Rába chairman and CEO István Pintér.
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Although Airbus may sound familiar in connection with aeroplanes, the French company is also a manufacturer of helicopters. Airbus Helicopters practically checked in at the Hungarian Army last week announcing that the company is expecting 40 helicopters to sell in Hungary in the next decade, most of them to governmental bodies.
Although not present in Hungary with a production site, BMW is considered the fifth Hungarian car manufacturer. In a report published last week we presented all the Hungarian-made components for the BMW 2-series. The list includes a significant number of Hungarian firms.
Last week Nissan announced that it had built 2 million Quashqais.
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Last week we interviewed Péter Frank, the director of Knorr-Bremse's Hungarian subsidiary responsible for research and development, a supplier conference, where he gave a presentation about intelligent trucks. He pointed out that several Hungarian engineers are involved in the development.
We interviewed the CEO of Tatabánya-based SCS Stahlschmidt about the company's current and future development plans.
The Borsod-based branch of Liga Trade Union (Liga Szakszervezetek) held a demonstration in front of Bosch's Miskolc plant as the supplier's employees are concerned about high fluctuation. Vasas Trade Union was critical about the demonstration, while a representative of Bosch Hungary told the protesters that the company is ready for discussions.
Last week, we visited BorgWarner's Oroszlány plant, where the company held a Quality Day (Q-Day) for its employees.
It was announced last week that BKK, the Budapest public transport company, is buying an additional 200 new buses. It is great news in itself but it was also revealed that instead of Hungarian-built vehicles, BKK will purchase MAN and Mercedes buses.
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Hungarian railway company MÁV will buy 21 new electric rail motor coaches, using EU funds. The new units will start operation from the end of next year until early-2017 on suburban lines in Budapest.
The city of Kecskemét celebrated the 50th anniversary of engineer training in the town. At the ceremony, Knorr-Bremse and Kecskemét College signed an important strategic partnership agreement.
The effect of TechTogether will be felt for a long time it seems. The competition for Hungarian automotive university teams made quite a stir in Hungary's higher education, said the project leader of the Hungarian Automotive Research Centre.
Based on new EU regulation, the GDP will be calculated on the basis of a new method by Hungary's Central Statistical Office (KSH). As a result of a review of year-on-year data, in 2013 Hungary's GDP growth was 1.5 percent instead of the 1.1 percent reported earlier.
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| Rector Piroska Ailer and Knorr-Bremse CEO István Lepsényi signing the agreement between the University of Miskolc and Knorr-Bremse |
Due to the revision, KSH corrected Hungary's 2011 and 2012 GDP growth rate by 0.2 percentage points, resulting in a 1.8 percent growth in 2011 and a 1.5 percent decrease in 2012. Hungary's gross domestic product (GDP) was HUF 29,846 billion in 2013, while the country's GDP per capita was HUF 3.017 million, which equals to EUR 17,642 in PPP terms.
In September 2014, industrial gross output rose by 7.6% compared to the same month of 2013, while the index adjusted for working days grew by 5.2%. Year-on-year, output increased by 8.6% in the first nine months of this year. The volume of industrial production in September – according to seasonally and working-day adjusted indices – rose from the previous month by 2.7%, reported KSH.
As opposed to the previous week, the forint was characterised by a strengthening trend last week, reaching 306 against the euro by Friday afternoon.
