Szentgotthárd as an important pillar of the long-term strategy of Opel and PSA - VIDEO REPORT
2018. 03. 21.
The new owner of Opel, the French PSA Group decided to implement a strategic development on the Szentgotthárd plant, thus increasing the current production capacity with 350,000 engines produced annually from 2020. The decision is the first step in the process planned to be accomplished in 2024 which would result in a transition to platforms used by PSA by one of the most important engine plants of Opel and also the whole brand. The Szentgotthárd plant is going to produce, among others, two versions of the three-cylinder petrol turbo engine of 1.2 litres winning the "Engine of the Year" award three times.
According to this decision, the modern Flex plant in Szentgotthárd is going to start the production of three-cylinder petrol turbo engines of 1.2 litres at the beginning of 2020. A team of 60 has already started to work on the preparation of the project, being responsible for integrating the manufacturing of new engines into that running on Flex production lines. It means that when the production of the new petrol engines start in 2020, items on the current range of engines will be manufactured simultaneously with them on the production lines.
The Szentgotthárd plant of Opel was the first big international automotive investment in Hungary following the change of regime in Hungary so the first car produced in Hungary was an Opel Astra. After a quarter of century, Szentgotthárd became the one of the most important engine plants of Opel which position can be kept by the plant due to the investment announced today under the new owner as well.
It is partly due to its being manufactured in Hungary that Opel is one of the most favoured car brands in Hungary. Cars running on Hungarian roads are mostly Opels, their number exceeding half a million. Since 1991, the official establishment in Hungary of Opel, the German automotive manufacturer has always been featured at the top of the sales lists, with 426,000 new cars sold by the end of last year.
Hungarian automotive industry has nearly 120 years of history. As a result of Hungarian expertise, productivity, and creativity combined with the favourable location of the country, competitive production costs and more than 700 automotive industry suppliers, Hungary developed to be one of the most lucrative automotive locations of Europe. Already established companies continuously expand their activities, and this investor confidence is an excellent reference for negotiation with new partners planning to deploy automotive industry capacities in the region.
