A new production site for the Germany-based Rehau conglomerate was opened in the industrial park of Győr on Monday. At the plant, which cost EUR 60 million (HUF 18bn) to complete and was finalized within one year, bumpers for several Audi models will be produced.

Minister of State Zoltán Cséfalvay said that as in the summer of 2010 the Government of Hungary identified the re-industrialization of the country as a key priority, the idea met with doubts all over Europe. However, by now this concept has become an EU objective: by the end of the development period 2014-2020 the EU aims to raise the share of industry within GDP from 16 percent to 20 percent. In Hungary however this number has already reached 24 percent.

As he stressed, the car industry exerts a more significant multiplier effect than other sectors. Zoltán Cséfalvay added that while Hungary enjoys competitive advantages through an infrastructure which is better than in the region’s countries and through a flexible labour market introduced over the past two years, the country is lagging behind the three other Visegrád countries with regard to suppliers. “This is the issue which needs improving,” he said adding that a topic of high priority in the upcoming EU development period will be the bolstering of the share of domestic suppliers within Hungarian exports.

Vice President of Rehau Veit Wagner said that the proximity of the Audi plant was a key factor for selecting the location of the new site in Győr, as the company transports finalized products directly to the vehicle factory’s assembly lines.

The Vice President emphasised that Rehau has 40 production sites, of which the facility in Győr was completed within a record period of one year. He also mentioned that the company has a working relationship with Audi for more than two decades, and Rehau has been supplying the car maker from the old production site in Győr since 2005. As Veit Wagner said, the current team of 130 people is about to produce bumpers for the Audi A3 Cabriolet and Coupe models, while front and rear bumpers for TT and Q7 models will be produced as of the middle of this year in the new facility.

CEO of Audi Hungarian Motor Ltd Thomas Faustmann underlined in his speech that world-class vehicles can only be made through world-class suppliers, adding that the Győr plant of Rehau also supplies other Volkswagen brands and produces, among others, bumpers for VW Touaregs.

(Ministry for National Economy)