Mercedes-Benz is starting series production of its new, fully electric GLB model in Kecskemét. The factory in central Hungary will soon enable the production of up to 350,000 cars per year, bringing the country closer to its goal of producing one million cars per year, announced Péter Szijjártó, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, on Monday at the site.
The minister attended the Mercedes-Benz production launch ceremony, where he emphasized that this step is another important cornerstone of the German company’s development strategy, serving as a solid foundation for its future portfolio and, at the same time, a great success for Kecskemét and Hungary.
He noted that Mercedes-Benz has built the group’s second and Hungary’s largest car factory in the city. The factory is “simply unstoppable,” as there is constant news about the relocation of the production of new models here, the supply chain has been shortened to the maximum in the field of electric batteries, and for almost four years now, the site has been operating exclusively on renewable energy sources.
We are proud that, thanks to the investments made here, they will soon be able to produce up to 350,000 cars a year, bringing us closer to our strategic goal of Hungary playing in the elite league where we can produce one million cars a year,”
he said. “We entered a new dimension when research and development activities were also brought here, and Hungarian engineers in Kecskemét will play an increasingly important role in the development of prototypes,” he continued.
The minister added that the company currently employs 4,500 people, making it the largest employer in the region, and that without it, Bács-Kiskun County would not have been able to more than double its industrial output from approximately HUF 1,800 billion (EUR 4.7 billion) to HUF 3,800 billion (EUR 9.8 billion / EUR 1=HUF 386) over the past ten years.
Minister Szijjártó pointed out that the past decade and a half has been marked by successive global crises, in the wake of which a new world order is emerging, with the automotive revolution playing a key role in the reshaping of economic power relations. He noted that the sector’s transition to electric vehicles is progressing steadily, and that the future success of each country will largely be determined by the role it can play in this process of historic significance.
And today, without any exaggeration, we can say that Hungary has become a world leader in the new era of the electric car industry. Hungary has become one of the European strongholds of the electric car industry,”
he pointed out.
The minister noted that over the past eleven years, 452 large investments related to the automotive industry have been made in Hungary, totaling HUF 6,800 billion, creating 65,000 new jobs and bringing the production value of the automotive industry well above HUF 10,000 billion per year. He mentioned that none of this would have been possible without the confidence of German companies in Hungary, but investors here are aware that the security of their “investments, jobs, and employees” is guaranteed in our country.
“This economic and physical security is now more important than ever before. In addition, of course, a good argument in favor of Hungary is that it has the lowest taxes in Europe and that the Hungarian workforce is undoubtedly among the best in Europe,” he added. Concluding his speech, he also pointed out that Hungary is one of only three countries in the world where all three premium German car brands have production capacity.
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Via MTI, Featured image: Facebook/Mercedes-Benz Gyár Kecskemét
The post Mercedes-Benz Launches Production of New All-Electric Model in Kecskemét appeared first on Hungary Today.
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