The success of the Hungarian economy in the next few years will depend on whether we will be able to change over to the new era of the automotive industry and to implement the technologies of autonomous vehicles and electromobility within the shortest possible time, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó said at the Ministry’s press conference announcing the year’s first investment.
The Minister highlighted that in order to introduce the latest technologies in Hungary we need the involvement of high-tech companies, and the Government therefore made a contribution of HUF 465 million in the form of a non-repayable grant to the Miskolc investment worth HUF 8.8 billion of the Japanese company GS Yuasa.
Makoto Yoda, GS Yuasa’s Senior Advisor said that the Miskolc plant will be the first outside Japan where the company will manufacture lithium-ion batteries. With the investment worth almost EUR 29 million, 51 jobs will come into being in the first phase; construction works will begin in February.
Mr Szijjártó stressed that as regards job creation, it is no longer the number of new job opportunities that matters most, but the added value generated by them, the technological standard and innovation content. Hungary may reach this new level of quality against the background of full employment which is now within reach, he added.
The Minister said that, with the Government’s support, 71 projects worth EUR 3.2 billion were brought to Hungary in 2016, while in 2017 a record level of 96 investments were made in Hungary worth EUR 3.5 billion in total. The average wage paid by the jobs so created amounted to HUF 255,000 the year before last and to HUF 304,000 last year which proves that it is possible to create a competitive investment environment even against the background of increasing wages, he added.
In Hungary 170 Japanese companies provide a living for some 26,000 Hungarian employees, Mr Szijjártó said.
Makoto Yoda cited Miskolc’s well-organised infrastructure, the availability of qualified work force and the support offered by the city’s leadership as the reasons for GS Yuasa’s choice of location. The company’s senior advisor said that the climate change of recent years has made the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions an urgent necessity, and this has set new challenges for the automotive industry as well. The available time is limited, but electric cars may offer a solution to pollutant emissions, and lithium-ion batteries may play a key role in powering them.
János Kiss, Deputy Mayor of the City of Miskolc (Fidesz-KDNP) stated at the press conference that the city needs production capacity similar to the project of GS Yuasa as well as 21st century technologies in the interest of the re-industrialisation of the region and the replacement of old industries. The Municipality has upgraded the city’s infrastructure with a view to receiving investors, and thanks to this 5,000 new jobs have come into being in Miskolc since 2010, he added. He highlighted that the seat of Borsod County reached a demographic turning point last year: for the first time in 27 years the city did not have a population deficit through migration to other parts of the country.
GS Yuasa Corporation, which manufactures batteries, chargers and other electric equipment, employs some 15,000 workers in 17 countries, and its sales revenue amounted to almost USD 3 billion in the business year closed in March 2017.
The Kyoto-based company’s Hungarian subsidiary, the Miskolc-based GS Yuasa Magyarország Kft. was registered on 30 October 2017.
(MTI)
