H-1055 Budapest, Honvéd utca 20. • +36 1 872-6520 • www.hipa.hu
PRESS RELEASE
Budapest, March 10, 2015
Continued growth prospects for the Hungarian automotive industry
The Hungarian Investment Promotion Agency (HIPA) has organized another automotive summit
after 2014 with the participation of the largest domestic automotive companies, suppliers,
professional organizations and government representatives. Minister of Foreign Affairs and
Trade Péter Szijjártó reviewed the performance and outlined the future prospects of this growth
sector, which had a production value of about 6,651 billion forints and employed over 132,000
people last year.
Accounting for 27.4 percent of the entire Hungarian processing industry, the automotive industry
is the engine behind the Hungarian economy. Currently over 700 companies operate in the
sector, providing direct employment for over 132,000 people. In addition to the Opel engine
plant and the large car manufacturers, i.e. Suzuki, Audi and Mercedes, 15 of the world’s 20
largest TIER1 automotive suppliers have production capacities in Hungary as well.
Having regard to the sector’s weight and role in the Hungarian economy, the Hungarian
Investment Promotion Agency (HIPA) decided to organize another large scale automotive
conference this year after 2014, where major domestic players of the industry would have a
chance to meet their partners and review the future of vehicle manufacturing in Hungary.
HIPA President Róbert Ésik, the host of the event emphasized in his opening address that the
spectacular development witnessed in the automotive industry in the past years continued in
2014 in the area of investments. This is supported by the fact that over half of the investment
projects implemented last year with the contribution of HIPA, i.e. about EUR 868 million is
related to the automotive industry. These investments create 3,500 jobs in Hungary. New
arrivals in 2014 in the Hungarian automotive industry were, among others, Indian company
Apollo Tyres and Polish Alumetal, while some other significant companies such as Autoliv in
Sopronkövesd and Nemak in Győr expanded their capacities.
“Future prospects of the sector are quite attractive as well, since the active investment portfolio
managed by HIPA continues to be dominated by automotive investment projects. The
organization is currently in negotiations about 107 open projects, of which 21 are related to the
automotive industry. If these projects will be implemented with the currently known
parameters, then these investments will create about 3,600 new jobs in Hungary”, said Róbert
Ésik.
The HIPA president explained that the development of Hungarian tyre manufacturing is an
excellent example of the path followed by the automotive industry in the past years. Large
international tyre manufacturers with operations in Hungary, i.e. Japanese Bridgestone, France’s
Michelin and South Korean Hankook have significantly expanded their factories, while Apollo
established a new plant, whereby Hungarian capacity will shortly increase to 32 million tyres per
year. Owing to that Hungary will soon become a power in global tyre manufacturing: according
to forecasts twelve of one hundred vehicles will ride on tyres manufactured by Hungarian
machines and hands in Europe.
Róbert Ésik also announced that an increasing number of Hungarian SMEs join in the value
creation chain of the large manufacturing companies of the sector. HIPA manages a supplier
program to encourage this process, which consists of several elements to support domestic
H-1055 Budapest, Honvéd utca 20. • +36 1 872-6520 • www.hipa.hu
automotive companies, such as the organization of trade events and professional trainings and
the establishment of an online marketplace.
Péter Szijjártó gave a welcome speech at the conference, appreciating the sector’s achievements
in 2014. The Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade declared that the automotive industry with its
about HUF 6,651 billion production value is the most dominating element of the Hungarian
economy. The sector is competitive in any market of the world, which is demonstrated by the
fact that exports accounted for 93 percent of the total revenues of the sector in 2014. Forty-five
percent of the products manufactured by the Hungarian automotive industry were sold in
Germany, while the second place on this list is occupied by the United States.
Following Péter Szijjártó’s speech – which was part of the morning program – top executives of
the largest Hungarian automotive companies, i.e. Audi Hungaria Motor Kft., Hungarian Suzuki
Zrt., Mercedes-Benz Manufacturing Hungary Kft., Opel Szentgotthárd Kft. and Robert Bosch Kft.
summarized the year.
In his address Gerd Walker, Managing Director for Vehicle Production at Audi Hungária Motor
Kft. talked about the company’s investment activity in Hungary, the gross aggregate value of
which exceeded EUR 7.4 billion in 2014. As he said, this makes Audi Hungária the largest investor
in Hungary.
Dr. László Urbán, deputy CEO of Hungarian Suzuki Zrt. talked about expanding export markets
and new target markets in his presentation. As regards the new model Suzuki presented on
March 5th, Vitara, which is assembled in the Esztergom factory, he explained that the company
intends to manufacture 70,000 cars in the first year of production with the contribution of an
exceptionally large number of Hungarian suppliers, 74 companies altogether.
Ekkehard Philipp, Chief Financial Officer of Mercedes-Benz Manufacturing Hungary Kft.
announced in this speech that 150,000 B- and CLA-class models were manufactured in 2014 in
Kecskemét, so a total of over 300,000 cars left the production lines of the plant since its opening
in 2012. The CLA-class models of Mercedes are manufactured only in Hungary and are currently
sold in more than 180 countries all over the world. Total investment value in the Kecskemét
factory reached EUR one billion by the end of 2014, the number of employees increased to about
4,000.
Tamás Solt, managing director at Opel Szentgotthárd Kft. also summarized the year, speaking
about the achievements of the last year and their future development plans. He emphasized that
the European development plans of Opel include 17 new engines until 2018, and the
Szentgotthárd factory will be prepared to manufacture some of them.
Further information:
Hungarian Investment Promotion Agency
Communications Department
Telephone: 06 1 872 6520
sajto@hipa.hu
www.hipa.hu