With an investment of about HUF 120 billion, Audi is building a factory unit responsible for electric propulsion in Győr, creating five hundred new jobs, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó announced on Tuesday.
According to the ministry's announcement, the portfolio manager is Audi MEB Eco. announced that the new plant will produce the latest electric motors of the Volkswagen concern. Production is planned to start in 2025, for which the company is developing a new production area. As he said, the development supported by the government with HUF 8.5 billion will further strengthen Hungary's position in the electric car industry.
The new, so-called MEB ECO (Modularer E-Antriebs-Baukasten - modular electric drive concept) drives are built into small electric cars of the Volkswagen Group. The production of the new product also means new competences, since by increasing the production depth, the disk package and the rotating unit (rotor) required for the electric drive will also be produced by the employees in Győr, and later on, the production of the power electronics will also take place at the company.
In his speech, Péter Szijjártó emphasized that the backbone of the Hungarian economy is now clearly the automotive industry, which has undergone extraordinary development over the past twelve years.
The production value of the sector was HUF 3,600 billion in 2010, while it will be HUF 9,400 billion in 2021, and the momentum has not waned despite the global and continental challenges, as this figure reached a record HUF 3,500 billion in the first four months of this year. HUF. Twelve years ago, the sector employed 86,000 Hungarians, while today it employs 158,000, he said.
He underlined that the Hungarian automotive industry works with an export share of 90 percent, making our country the world's 20th largest vehicle exporter, while it ranks only 95th in terms of population. Last year, Hungary exported the fourth most gasoline engines and the thirteenth most diesel engines.
Péter Szijjártó believed that this development is largely due to Audi, which established the world's largest automotive engine factory in Győr. According to his information, 13,000 employees work here, but together with the service companies, the company ensures the livelihood of around 25,000 families.
He reminded that Audi produced 171,000 cars in Hungary last year, which is a record, and these were sold in 122 countries around the world.
The minister pointed out that Audi is also helping to implement one of the government's most important goals, the revolutionary transition of the automotive industry, because in 2018, the mass production of electric motors began in Győr, and by the beginning of this year, 300,000 of them had already been produced.
"The country that can win the investments related to the electric car industry also wins the possibility of future economic growth," he said. He emphasized that Hungary is already among the leaders of the global automotive transformation, and the government is working to create large capacities in all areas of electromobility here.
He also mentioned that roughly six thousand German companies employ a total of 300 thousand people in Hungary, so they make up the largest investor community in our country. The value of bilateral trade reached 60 billion euros last year, setting a record, and an 8 percent increase was registered in the first half of this year as well.
(Source: autokalauz.co.hu; MTI | Image: pixabay.com)