China’s BYD has opened a 6.2 billion HUF (20m EUR) electric bus plant in Komárom, which will turn out 400 vehicles a year to be delivered to cities across Europe.
The plant, which created 300 jobs, was supported with a 925 million HUF government grant, said Péter Szijjártó, minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
The minister said Hungary’s vehicle industry produced goods to a value of 7,874 billion HUF in 2016. Some 92.4 percent of this was for export and the sector employs 155,000 people.
The most important task of economic policy today is to offer attractive locations for research and development, Minister Szijjártó said.
“Those countries will be most attractive that are best able to link production and digitalisation," he added.
He said Hungary’s government has taken the steps that could make Hungary an ideal location for research and development, such as offering the lowest corporate tax in Europe, reducing the social tax, and tax allowances for research and development activities.
The 66,000 sqm plant is BYD’s first in Europe. It will build another on the outskirts of Paris. Later, the Hungary plant will add trucks and light commercial vehicles to its product palette, said BYD Europe managing director Isbrand Ho.