In 31 years, Magyar Suzuki Zrt. has become one of the country's largest companies in terms of turnover.Continue reading
Magyar Suzuki Zrt’s Esztergom plant produced 129,022 cars in 2022, an annual increase of 20 percent, while net sales revenue rose by 22.3 percent to EUR 2.144 billion, the company’s executives said at a press conference in Budapest on Thursday.
Róbert Krisztián, the company’s deputy CEO, added that last year, due to the disruption in logistics and supply chains (mainly the shortage of semiconductors), as well as the significant rise in energy and raw material prices, Magyar Suzuki Zrt.’s profit dropped to 22.7 million euros, halving the previous year’s figures.
He said that 88 percent of total sales, almost 114,000 cars, were exported to 123 countries. At the same time, he indicated that the Esztergom plant produced the Suzuki Vitara and S-cross models, and while the former one was very popular abroad, the latter one was more favored in Hungary.
He pointed out that they have maintained their leading position in new car sales in Hungary for the seventh year, with a market share of almost 12.5 percent last year, with about 14,000 new cars registered.
This means that by 2022, one in eight new cars with the Suzuki logo will have been registered in the country,
he said.
He also pointed out that out of the 14,000 or so Suzuki cars registered last year, almost 6,800 cars went to corporate and institutional customers, putting the brand in fourth place in the fleet sales field.
As for this year, he said that they are constantly monitoring and analyzing the market situation, and therefore expect the total Hungarian new car market to decline by five to six percent compared to 2022. At the same time, they are confident that by the second half of the year, as inflation and interest rates fall, the market will consolidate enough for “new car sales to find their feet in Hungary,” said Róbert Krisztián.
The company’s deputy CEO said that global demand for the models produced in Esztergom remains high, which is why production capacity is being increased by speeding up the production line and increasing the workforce.
This year, Magyar Suzuki Zrt. plans to produce 168,000 cars, increasing the company’s production volume by almost 50 percent compared to 2021.
Ildikó Fejesné Gyurján, the operational director in charge of HR, finance, and IT, said that Magyar Suzuki Zrt. now employs 3,200 people, with the number of employees having increased by 400 between the beginning of 2022 and May 2023. 178 more employees are planned to be hired between August and September of this year.
The company’s employment is based on three pillars: in-house staff, temporary agency staff, and third-country workers. In the latter case, 161 Indian colleagues are currently employed – the company has taken on its own staff, but this year it will take on 55 more people from the Philippines through a temporary employment agency. In response to a question, he said that third-country nationals account for seven to eight percent of the total headcount.
Masato Atsumi, CEO of Magyar Suzuki Zrt., explained that Suzuki aims to have carbon neutral plants and product portfolios around the world by 2050. In response to the ever-changing industry and customer needs, Suzuki’s fully electric cars will soon be available all over the world. In Europe,
the brand’s first all-electric vehicle is expected to be launched by March 31, 2025, followed by four more models by 2030.
Magyar Suzuki Zrt. was founded in 1991, and has been the sole European manufacturing unit of the Japanese parent company ever since. The company provides income for around 10,000 employees through its partners, suppliers, and a national dealer network of 78 dealerships.
Via MTI, Featured Image: Facebook/Magyar Suzuki Rt.