BYD Auto Hungary

Type
Business expansion
Country
Hungary
Region
Alfod es Eszak; Del-Alfold; Csongrad
Location of affected unit(s)
Szeged
Sector
Manufacturing
Manfacture for transport equipment
Manufacture of motor vehicles, trailers and semi-trailers
29.10 - Manufacture of motor vehicles
3,000 jobs
Number of planned job creations
Job creation
Announcement Date
22 December 2023
Employment effect (start)
1 February 2025
Foreseen end date

Description

Chinese electric car company BYD is building its first European production plant in Szeged, the regional centre of the Southern Great Plain region. Production is set to begin in the second half of 2025, with a personnel of 3,000 to 4,000 staff members. Once at full capacity, the production site will manufacture 300,000 electric vehicles annually and employ some 10,000 workers, according to the plans. The firm has already started recruiting robot operators.

Since the unemployment rate in Szeged is very low and in fact, the town is facing a labour shortage, it will be a real challenge to ensure the necessary staffing levels. The major expressed hope that a significant part of the workforce can be recruited from the graduates of the vocational training centres operating in the town. Also, a number of workers currently working at the Mercedes plant in Kecskemét may switch jobs and join the BYD team, considering the uncertainties surrounding the future prospects of the German auto firms.

However, according to the major, it seems inevitable that a substantial number of foreign workers will be employed to fill the staffing gaps. Some of these workers may come from nearby Northern Serbia, a region with a substantial Hungarian minority. But many of the guest workers are expected to arrive from China, the Philippines, and other Eastern Asian countries, even though the company expressed a preference for primarily relying on the local workforce to operate the Hungarian production site.

Sources

Citation

Eurofound (2023), BYD Auto Hungary, Business expansion in Hungary, factsheet number 202349, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://restructuringeventsprod.azurewebsites.net/restructuring-events/detail/202349.