“The French GMD Group will be establishing a vehicle parts plant in Dorog with an investment of 14.5 billion forints (EU 46 million), towards which the Government has provided 2.9 billion forints (EUR 9.2 million) in non-returnable funding”, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó announced at a press conference in Budapest on Thursday.

“The investment is creating 240 new workplaces, and parts will be manufactured at the plant using state-of-the-art machinery and robotic technologies”, Mr. Szijjártó highlighted.

“The dimensional shift of the Hungarian economy requires investments such as this one; the basis for success is the application of the most modern level of technology”, he stated.

“There was major competition for the investment, and the GMD Group has subsidiaries in 14 countries worldwide, and could have taken its latest investment to any one of those”, the Minister said.

Mr. Szijjártó told reporters that Hungary had entered the competition for the investment because the further development of the Hungarian automotive industry fundamentally requires the expansion of supplier capacities.

“And the proximity of suppliers is advantageous to large manufacturers in the interests of reducing logistics costs and assuring continuous production. GMD has received a major order from the PSA Group, which has taken over Opel’s Hungarian plant. GMD has also purchased a company in Bonyhád, where they are producing internal equipment for Lamborghinis and Bentleys”, Mr. Szijjártó said.

“The Government is also in negotiation concerning the expansion of existing capacities”, he indicated.

The Minister also spoke about the fact that according to 2018 data, French companies are the 4th largest investors in Hungary, France is Hungary’s 8th most important trade partner, and 600 French-owned companies provide jobs for 37 thousand people.

“GMD’s investment is helping to maintain this momentum, as well as increasing the export capacity of Hungarian enterprises”, he stated.

“The winners of the new economic world order will be those countries that are able to attract major automotive industry investments”, Mr Szijjártó said, adding that the automotive industry is at the focus of Hungarian economic policy, and the country is one of the winners of the new era.

“2018 was a record year for the Hungarian automotive industry, and Hungary is now ranked 20 among the world’s largest automotive industry exporters”, he told the press.

According to the Minister, if we add together the automotive industry performance of the four countries of the Visegrád Group (V4), the region is the world’s 4th largest automotive industry exporter, which indicates that Central Europe is one of the worlds determining automotive industry regions.

Mr. Szijjártó recalled that the performance of the Hungarian automotive industry increased by 6 percent last year, and 174 thousand people are now working in the automotive industry.

Stressing the importance of the investment project, the region’s Member of Parliament Pál Völner (Fidesz) highlighted: “In addition to the skilled workforce, the decision to realise the investment in Dorog also required suitable local government regulations and state funding”.

According to President and owner of the GMD Group Alain Martineau, Hungary and the investment are of extreme importance to the company, which employs 5500 people worldwide.

“The Group’s annual turnover was around one billion euros last year. At its foundry in Dorog, GMD will be manufacturing aluminium car parts, and the plant will be the largest foundry within the company group and one of the most modern in Europe”, he told reporters.

(MTI)