FM Szijjártó said Markus Schäfer should be regarded as a true friend of Hungary, having made a series of strategic decisions from which the Hungarian economy and Hungarian workers have benefited significantly.
FM Szijjártó recalled that Mercedes-Benz launched series production in Hungary in 2012, with the first model produced exclusively in the country for global markets rolling off the production line a year later. He noted that in October last year the two-millionth vehicle was completed at the company’s plant in Kecskemét.
The foreign minister underlined that the Kecskemét facility has now reached a stage where high-tech internal combustion engine vehicles, plug-in hybrids and fully electric models are all produced at the same site. FM Szijjártó added that the Mercedes plant in Kecskemét has become the company’s largest production facility in Europe, and the second largest globally after China.
He said Mercedes-Benz has carried out major investments in Kecskemét in recent years, which will result in the plant’s initial production capacity being doubled by early next year. In addition, high value-added activities, including prototype development, have also been relocated to Hungary.
FM Szijjártó pointed out that more than 5,000 people are now directly employed at the Kecskemét plant, which was named Hungary’s most attractive workplace in 2024 and has repeatedly been selected as the best factory within the Mercedes group worldwide.
The foreign minister stressed that these achievements would not have been possible without committed corporate leaders such as Markus Schäfer. FM Szijjártó said that without Schäfer’s decisions, the Kecskemét plant would not have become Mercedes-Benz’s largest European factory, Hungary would not have emerged as one of Europe’s flagships of the electric automotive transition, and the core of Mercedes-Benz’s electromobility strategy would not have been brought to Hungary.
FM Szijjártó described the current transformation of the automotive industry as a historic shift that is reshaping the global economic balance of power. He said Hungary has clearly positioned itself among the winners of this new era, particularly through its role at the forefront of the automotive-driven technological revolution in Europe.
The award, the Key to the City of Kecskemét, was presented to Markus Schäfer by Klaudia Pataki, Mayor of Kecskemét, at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade.