FM Szijjártó spoke at the production launch ceremony at the Mercedes-Benz plant, stressing that the move represents another key milestone in the German company’s development strategy, providing a stable foundation for its future portfolio while also marking a major success for both Kecskemét and Hungary.
The foreign minister underlined that Mercedes has built the company group’s second-largest and Hungary’s biggest car factory in the city, describing the plant as “unstoppable.” He noted that new production announcements continue to arrive, the supplier chain for electric batteries has been shortened to the greatest possible extent, and the facility has been operating exclusively on renewable energy sources for nearly four years.
FM Szijjártó said the investments underway will soon make it possible to produce up to 350,000 vehicles annually at the site, bringing Hungary significantly closer to its strategic objective of joining the elite group of countries capable of manufacturing one million cars per year.
He added that a new dimension was reached when research and development activities were also brought to Kecskemét, giving Hungarian engineers an increasingly important role in prototype development.
FM Szijjártó pointed out that Mercedes currently employs around 4,500 people, making it the largest employer in the region. Without the company, he said, Bács-Kiskun county would not have been able to more than double its industrial output over the past decade, from around 1,800 billion forints to approximately 3,800 billion forints.
The minister also noted that the past decade and a half has been marked by successive global crises, leading to the emergence of a new world order in which the automotive revolution plays a central role in reshaping economic power relations.
He said the transition to electric mobility is advancing steadily, and a country’s future success will largely depend on the role it can secure in this process of historic significance.
FM Szijjártó stated that Hungary has now reached the global forefront of the new era of electric mobility, becoming one of Europe’s key hubs for electric vehicle production. He described this as an outstanding achievement for Hungary, its economy, investors, families and workforce.
He stressed that it is far from self-evident for a country of Hungary’s size and capacity to become a leader in such a major global technological transformation, let alone one that helps set its pace.
According to the minister, this position translates into economic strength for the country, modern jobs for Hungarian workers and long-term, secure livelihoods for Hungarian families.
FM Szijjártó recalled that over the past eleven years, 452 major automotive investments have been implemented in Hungary, worth a combined 6,800 billion forints, creating 65,000 new jobs and pushing the sector’s annual production value well beyond 10,000 billion forints.
He added that these achievements would not have been possible without the trust of German companies in Hungary, noting that investors are fully aware that the country guarantees the security of their investments, jobs and employees.
FM Szijjártó concluded by pointing out that Hungary is one of only three countries in the world where all three premium German car brands maintain production capacity.