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Opel Lays Foundation Stone for new Szentgotthárd Engine Plant

2011-04-12

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Szentgotthárd.  Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and GM Europe President Nick Reilly laid the foundation stone for a new Opel/Vauxhall engine plant in Szentgotthárd in southwest Hungary. Starting production in late 2012, the plant will have a production capacity of 500,000 engines per year. With an investment of 500 million Euros Opel/Vauxhall creates 800 jobs in a manufacturing operation with unprecedented flexibility.

The new engine plant is located at an existing site that will be considerably expanded.
The manufacturing program will consist of a family of small gasoline engines, a family of medium sized gasoline engines and a family of medium-sized diesel engines. The new engine range will fulfill future Euro 6 emission standards, add direct injection to gasoline powertrain, secure a low power/weight ratio, provide smooth running and substantially reduce fuel consumption and CO2 emissions. “The new Szentgotthárd engine plant with its vast range of advanced low-CO2 combustion engines and an unprecedented flexibility of manufacturing will be a cornerstone of Opel/Vauxhall’s product offensive”, said GM Europe President Nick Reilly.

The new facility will be able to rapidly accommodate production schedule changes that might be required due to spikes in customer demand. The plant will be significantly more flexible than existing plants and is therefore a true “flex plant”. The rapid tool changes that are a prerequisite of the plant’s flexibility require a highly skilled workforce. The high education level of the Hungarian workforce was also an important factor in the site selection process preceding Opel/Vauxhall’s decision to invest in Hungary.

The new investment in Szentgotthárd continues Opel/Vauxhall’s longstanding presence in Hungary and coincides with the 20-years-anniversary of Opel in Hungary. In January 1991 Opel was the first international automotive investor and the first manufacturer ever building passenger cars in Hungary; in March 1992 the first Opel Astra was driven off the assembly line by then Prime Minister József Antall.

Between 1991 and 2010, Opel/Vauxhall invested half a billion Euros into the Szentgotthárd facility making it a core supplier of engines and cylinder heads for the company’s assembly plants across Europe. In the past 20 years, more than 6.5 million engines and five million cylinder heads were built in Szentgotthárd. In addition, the plant manufactured some 85,000 Opel Astras.

Opel/Vauxhall’s footprint in Hungary is key to a multitude of business opportunities for Hungarian companies. In 2010, Hungarian suppliers accounted for a turnover of 400 million Euros in total. In order to further strengthen the Hungarian supply base, Opel/Vauxhall and the Hungarian Investment and Trade Agency HITA reached an agreement on March 29, 2011, to closely cooperate in creating a stronger supplier industry and especially expand deliveries of production material to the vehicle manufacturer.

For the construction of the new manufacturing site in Szentgotthárd, Opel/Vauxhall currently employs 300 Hungarian suppliers.

Opel’s presence in Hungary and its contribution to the economy are major factors why Opel has been among the top three automotive brands on the Hungarian new car market in the past twenty years. In total, there are over 400,000 Opel cars on the Hungarian road, more than any other brand in Hungary.