Hungarian automotive industry: week 7
We visited the largest Hungarian bus factory, Mercedes celebrated the 500,000th car from Kecskemét and the situation around wages has got more heated. We interviewed researchers, young engineers and the head of vehicle import, while Rába posted its latest annual financial report and university students pushed forward with their developments.
Manufacturers
The 500,000th car rolled off the Mercedes production line in Kecskemét last week. The CLA and CLA Shooting Brake models are manufactured exclusively in Kecskemét for the global market.
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We visited the Kravex-Kühne Group's newly-expanded production hall in Mosonmagyaróvár before its inauguration, and we also had a peek at the company's assembly plant in Győr. Browse our photo gallery here.
Modulo has received the JEC innovation award from the largest composite industrial association for its fully-composite modular structure developed by the Hungarian company and manufactured by Russia-based NCC.
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| Factory visit at Kravtex-Kühne (gallery) |
It appears that Rába is preparing for acquisitions. The group's revenues declined, while its operating profit increased – however, these are not the highlights of the company's latest annual financial report. Although one particular bus order will probably never materialize, the Győr-based holding has new prospects for the future in the form of acquisitions.
The Mr. Wheel T500 product of carbon-fibre bicycle wheel manufacturer Te-Ker-Ker Bt. has been approved by Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI), which means they can be fitted on bicycles competing at the largest cycling competitions, such as Tour de France and Giro d'Italia.
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| Modulo design awarded |
Suppliers
Last year, a total of 2.4 million tires were manufactured at local factories. In the summer tyre category the cheapest segment grew by 10 percent, while mid-range tyres saw a 6.5 percent growth from 2014. The premium segment suffered a 7.2 percent decline, adding up to a total of 2.7 percent growth across all segments.
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| Hungarian-developed carbon-reinforced bicycle wheel approved by UCI |
Siemens said last week that the Hungarian power industry would benefit from the Paks II project. The development of the Paks II nuclear power station would allow the local power supplier industry to see a major expansion in Hungary, which similarly to the automotive industry could bring significant growth opportunities for the country´s economy.
Jász-Plasztik Kft. has expanded its plastic processing base with a HUF 2.4 billion investment and created 63 jobs at its headquarters as well as its sites in Nyíregyháza, Nagyréde and Jászapáti.
Service providers
The difficulties of recovering from the global crisis is shown by the slow growth of new car registrations. Péter Erdélyi, the chairman of the Hungarian Vehicle Importers Association (MGE), said this in an interview last week, where he also spoke about the requirements of an ideal domestic vehicle market, MGE's activities, a "white" economy and the excess of imported used cars.
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An EU-supported HUF 100 billion giant investment is set to renew the vehicle fleet of railway lines around the capital, it was announced last week.
The Volán Trade Unions' Cooperation Forum (Volán Szakszervezetek Együttműködési Forma) continues to prepare for strikes after rejecting the employee's latest offer. This means that if no agreement is made soon, train and bus services are both likely to halt all over Hungary.
The Hungarian Trade Union Association (MaSzSz) has rejected the 2016 wage proposal, and the presidency is urging for further talks, László Kordás, chairman of MaSzSz, said last week after an extraordinary meeting held in Budapest.
Last week we interviewed the chairman of the Hungarian Chamber of Industry and Commerce (MKIK). László Parragh spoke about how SMEs should get into a competitive position, tendering, trainings and the employment of refugees.
Education
We asked two scientists to confirm or reject whether Hungary is likely to become a centre for autonomous technologies in the future. Their verdict was highly favourable.
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| Gábor Stépán |
For 25 years, Gábor Stépán, the winner of the most prestigious award in mechanical engineering dynamics and the Príma and Széchenyi awards, has been working on his dynamic model to be adopted as an industry standard. Stépán says his life is a never-ending process of learning and teaching.
Arrabona Racing Team, the Győr-based formula student team from Széchenyi University, held its Design Freeze event last week, where they showcased the final design of their latest racing car.
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| Hungarian teams to compete at Shell Eco-marathon Europe in London |
229 student teams from 28 countries, including five university teams and a secondary school team from Hungary were invited to Shell Eco-marathon Europe, a fuel efficiency competition to be held in London in June.
