Ceremony marking 25 years of the Opel plant in Szentgotthárd

Szentgotthárd, March 29 (MTI) – The job and responsibility of the Hungarian government is to do everything to ensure that the new owner of Opel is incentivised to expand and develop its activities in Hungary, Péter Szijjártó, the foreign affairs and trade minister, said in Szentgotthárd, in western Hungary.

Speaking at a ceremony marking 25 years of the Opel plant, the minister said the government had made several decisions, such a slashing corporation tax and giving tax breaks for R and D, which would burnish the attractiveness for the new owner, the French PSA group, of developing the factory.

The minister praised Opel for its contributions to having turned Hungary into an auto industry hub in Europe since the country’s change of regime in 1989/90.

The first Opel Astra from 1992, photo: MTI

He said the output of Hungary’s automotive industry last year came to 7,874 billion forints (EUR 25.5bn), 92 percent of which was produced for export.

Opel Chief Executive Karl-Thomas Neumann called the acquisition of Opel/Vauxhall by France’s PSA Group a new opportunity for the company. He said further growth of the company would be best served by it remaining a “genuine German brand”.

Source: MTI