German car manufacturer Mercedes-Benz is building a new plant next to its existing factory in Kecskemét, central Hungarym with 150 thousand cars a year planned to be manufactured in the new plant built on a budget of 1 billion euros. The project will create 2500 new jobs and the Hungarian government will be providing funding of 12.9 billion forints (EUR 41.2M), Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó announced at a press conference in Budapest on Friday.
Mercedes-Benz’s Production and Supply Chain Director Markus Schäfer told the press that according to plans the project would be completed by the end of the decade. He highlighted that the construction of a new plant on the same site confirms the success of the factory; the plant in Kecskemét, which was founded in 2008, has made a major contribution to the global success of Mercedes and has manufactured over half a million cars.
The Mercedes plant a Kecskemét, southern Hungary, was opened in 2012 (photo: Zoltán Ujvári/MTI)
Mr. Schäfer also said that Mercedes had successfully outdone all of its rivals with regard to both sales and growth, but indicated that one must also succeed in remaining on top and the company is also one of the front-runners in the most important automotive industry trends such as autonomic driving, electro mobility and connectivity. Mercedes will be introducing 10 new models to the market within the next year, he added.
“The site in Kecskemet had deserved the confidence required for the decision; cooperation had been developed with the Hungarian Government, the Hungarian Investment Promotion Agency (HIPA) and the Municipality of Kecskemét, which has opened a new era in the success story that is Mercedes-Benz”, he said.
Mr, Szijjártó also stressed that the announcement indicated yet another success within the field of Hungarian-German strategic partnership and friendship; a quarter of all foreign working capital invested in Hungary comes from Germany and the project by Mercedes-Benz is the seventh automotive industry investment project in Hungary to be announced this year.
According to publicly available data, Mercedes-Benz Manufacturing Hungary Ltd. achieved revenues of 3.4 billion euros last year after 2.8 billion euros in 2014. The company posted after-tax profits of 65.8 million euros in 2015 and 63.9 million euros in 2014.
In March, it was announced that the German carmaker will invest in technology developments as well as expand production capacity, building a plant that will turn out next-generation compact car bodies by 2018.
via kormany.hu
cover photo: Zoltán Máthé/MTI