Automotive Industry Conference 2025 opens in Budapest
The Automotive Industry Conference 2025 will be held between May 13 and 16 at the Hungexpo exhibition center in Budapest. Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó also spoke at the opening event.
Automotive Industry Conference 2025
The Automotive Industry Conference in Budapest plays an important role in both Hungary and the region. Once again, it brings together players from industry and the automotive sector, creating a unique forum for business decision-makers and skilled professionals to build new business relationships or rethink existing ones and find joint solutions to the challenges currently facing the sector.
The accompanying events act as a “driving force” and contribute to the economic upturn, as the participating small, medium-sized and large companies, as well as the visitors to the exhibition, can think together about professional issues in one place and at one time.
Manufacturers, service providers, retailers, and customers meet here, enabling dialogue and business relationships to be established so that they can cooperate to maintain their position in the market.
Programmes planned for 2025:
- Chamber of Engineers conferences and professional further training (BPMK)
- Education in welding technology (MHtE, MAHEG)
- Automotive suppliers’ B2B meeting (MAGE – HIPA)
- Labour safety and textile industry conference (U4 Advertising Office)
- Plastic Industry Conference (MMSZ)
- Techtogether AUTOMOTIVE HUNGARY engineers’ competition (autopro.hu)
- APPLICATION ZONE integrated by Hunify Laboratories
- GRAND PRIZE application, presentation of winners
- Presentation of GFÜ, workshops, presentation on information related to tenders
- Lean lecture series (Magyar DigiLean Egyesület)
Szijjártó: In spite of global challenges, automotive industry remains engine of economic growth
In spite of global challenges, Hungary’s automotive industry continues to perform well and remains the engine of economic growth, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó said at a conference.
Opening the Automotive Industry Conference, Szijjártó said BMW would start production in Debrecen (E Hungary) in September, while the joining of Mercedes’ two plants in Kecskemét (C Hungary) in a few months would make the base the carmaker’s biggest outside of China. He added that Audi’s base in Győr (W Hungary) was operating at full capacity, the Stellantis plant in Szentgotthárd (W Hungary) could barely keep up with its orders, and the Suzuki factory in Esztergom (N Hungary) was undergoing a government-supported upgrade. He said China’s BYD is building its first European plant in Hungary, and five of the ten biggest battery makers in the world have decided to bring manufacturing capacity to Hungary.
He added that Hungary will soon be able to produce more than 1 million cars and over 2 million engines a year and have the second-largest battery manufacturing capacity in the world. Last year, output of Hungary’s automotive industry reached HUF 13,700bn. In the past eleven years, the government has supported 244 big investments in the sector.
Szijjártó said Hungary’s government continues to view automotive industry players as strategic allies and will offer all support to ensure their future success. He called out Brussels decision-makers for “politicising” economic issues and isolating the European Union from the global economy. He added that for the automotive industry, there is “no alternative to normal global cooperation.”
Szijjártó said there was “no going back” regarding electromobility, although the pace of the shift could vary. He added that the technology transition required Europe’s automotive industry to cooperate globally. He said Hungary has become a “meeting point” for companies from East and West and an example of the automotive industry’s success, highlighting local manufacturing partnerships between German and Chinese companies.
HIPA CEO Joó: Hungary isn’t just an assembly plant
Istvan Joó, the CEO of the Hungarian Investment Promotion Agency (HIPA), which organised the conference, said an automotive industry ecosystem and conventional investments had taken shape in Hungary. Cooperation between companies and universities and vocational schools is on the increase, R+D projects are launching and infrastructure around factories is being upgraded, he added.
Joó dismissed the suggestion that Hungary was just an assembly plant, pointing to the presence of cutting-edge technology, high salaries, and R&D capacities in the automotive industry.
The conference was organised with the support of the German-Hungarian Chamber of Industry and Commerce (DUIHK). Lesen Sie unsere Nachrichten auf Deutsch: Dailynewshungary.com/de
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