Mercedes-Benz: new investment in Hungary
Published at: 02/05/2016 03:08 pm
The German carmaker Mercedes-Benz has announced a 185 billion forint worth of investment at its Hungarian plant in Kecskemét. Mercedes-Benz will invest a total of EUR 580 million in Hungary (EUR 250 million will be spent on a new bodywork unit), and another EUR 330 million on technological developments and preparations for the production of new compact car models.
Daimler acquired a 441-hectare piece of land in Hungary in 2008, but used only 160 hectares. The group expected the manufacturing unit built on this site to reach annual capacity of 150,000 vehicles. By now it has turned out that maximum capacity can be boosted to over 150,000 by introducing a third shift and optimizing production and logistics processes. Daimler had the intention to use the remaining area by constructing a new plant there, boosting full capacity to 300,000 units a year. But the financial and economic crisis in 2008 and the decline of Europe’s car market, however, dealt a blow to the plans.
The Germans are satisfied with the Hungarian unit’s performance. The Kecskemét-based factory has been showing outstanding figures. Daimler manufactures in Hungary the models for the most popular segment: the B-Class, CLA and CLA Shooting Brake models. Daimler still has the opportunity to use a huge free area, which is already a developed land and the company had previously obtained all the necessary permits, therefore an expansion project can be launched in a short period of time, without any technical barrier. The local operation of Mercedes-Benz has been highly profitable over the last years.
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