According to the latest data from the month of July, Hungarian industrial output increased by 12.3 percent year-on-year and thus Hungary’s economy is one of the fastest growing in Europe, Minister of State for Economic Regulation Béla Glattfelder said at the inauguration ceremony of the new site of ZF Lenksysteme manufacturing electronic steering gears in Maklár. The facility was completed as the result of a EUR 150 million investment project, where state-of-the-art, material- and energy efficient electronic steering gears will be produced.
At the event, Béla Glattfelder said that in light of the latest data the excellent industrial output growth figure is the result of the more efficient utilization of existing and the creation of new production capacities. The investment project of ZF Lenksysteme in Maklár is a good example for the latter, he added.
The Minister of State pointed out that the construction of the site cost EUR 150 million, for which the EU and the Government of Hungary have provided funding of HUF 1bn and HUF 700 million, respectively.
Béla Glattfelder stressed that over the past seven years the country spent only 16 percent of EU resources on direct economic development. In the coming seven years, however, this figure is expected to be 60 percent.
ZF Lenksysteme Managing Directors Matthias Augenstein and Daniel Pridal said that the 26 000sqm site has been completed in eleven months after the company management decided last summer that the EPSapa electronic steering gears will be produced in Maklár.
ZF Lenksysteme Executive Vice President Marcus Parche emphasised that thanks to the expansion of Hungarian production capacity the company will be able to more efficiently fulfil the demands of customers and it will also boost the group’s competitiveness.
Working at full capacity, the plant will produce some 1 million EPSapa steering gears per year which will be fitted, among others, in Mercedes, Audi and Volvo vehicles. The current number of employees at the Eger and Maklár production sites is some 800, while 200 more employees will work at the new site, the managers stated.
Fidesz MP Zsolt Nyitrai, the representative of the constituency said that Heves County has successfully utilized EU funding as between 2007 and 2013 the region received HUF 203bn of EU resources, while in the coming EU development period the per capita EU funding will increase from the current HUF 661 000 to HUF 712 000.
(Ministry for National Economy)
