Hungary, by doubling its current production, will be among the five countries in the world capable of manufacturing over one million cars annually within a few years. However, this requires the supplier industry to keep pace, said Péter Szijjártó, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, in Budapest on Wednesday, according to a statement from the ministry.
The minister announced at the unveiling of Flex’s new investment that the American company, one of the world’s largest automotive suppliers, will build a new factory and implement significant technological developments in Zalaegerszeg. According to his statement, the investment is valued at approximately 36 billion forints, with the government providing 7.8 billion forints in support, thus facilitating the creation of 210 new jobs, most of which will be high added-value positions. Twenty of these jobs will specifically focus on research and development. The minister specified that the company, present in over thirty countries, will manufacture high-tech components for the largest car brands, including those with factories in Hungary. In his speech, he lauded the performance of the Hungarian automotive industry, noting that over half a million vehicles rolled off domestic production lines last year.
He also mentioned that following the establishment of all three major German car manufacturers in Hungary, the Chinese giant BYD is also arriving, ensuring that Hungary remains one of the strongholds of the electric automotive industry transition in Europe. ‘If we look at the current developments and capacity expansions in the Hungarian automotive industry, we see that within a few years, we will be able to double this annual production of half a million vehicles,’ he stated. ‘Within a few years, Hungary will be among the five countries in the world capable of manufacturing over one million cars annually,’ he added. He then stressed that this achievement is a testament to the work of the Hungarian people, but it is also clear that further growth fundamentally requires the supplier industry to keep pace, making the newly announced investment a significant advancement in this regard.
Péter Szijjártó touched on the crises of recent years, saying that it has never happened before that ‘such drastic changes had to be made multiple times within such a short period in the formulation of corporate or political strategies.’ ‘Both the pandemic and the war have severely affected and continue to affect the European economy to this day. Nevertheless, thanks to the performance of the Hungarian people and the cooperation between the government and companies, we managed to restore the economy to a growth trajectory, and we can say that we emerged from these crises stronger,’ he noted.
‘In fact, in terms of economic growth, we can produce exceptionally outstanding data internationally, as our quarterly growth was the second-largest in the European Union,’ he added. He elaborated that this is largely due to the automotive industry, considered the flagship of the domestic economy, which is undergoing a revolutionary transformation, with Hungary being a leading figure in this transition. ‘It has been a long time since we were not among the followers in a major global technological transformation,’ he remarked. The minister declared that attracting future automotive investments guarantees long-term economic growth and ensures that Hungary will be among the winners of the new era. ‘While French, British, Polish, and American automotive production in 2023, thus last year, remained at 60–70 per cent of pre-pandemic levels, Hungary’s automotive industry continuously broke production records, and last year, surpassing the 10 trillion forint threshold, achieved a production value of 13 trillion forints,’ he pointed out.
Finally, he also reminded that US companies form the second-largest investor community in Hungary, with 1,700 companies employing nearly 100,000 people. Over the past ten years, with Hungarian government support, 133 American corporate investments have been made, totalling 700 billion forints.
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