GS Yuasa to invest HUF 8.8 bln in EV battery plant

BBJ

Japanʼs GS Yuasa Corporation is investing HUF 8.8 billion in an electric vehicle battery plant in Miskolc (NE Hungary), Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó said in Budapest on Thursday at a press conference announcing the year’s first investment. The government is providing a HUF 465 million grant for the project.

Szijjártó speaks at the press conference Thursday (photo: MTI/ kormany.hu).

"The success of the Hungarian economy in the next few years will depend on whether we will be able to change over to the new era of the automotive industry and to implement the technologies of autonomous vehicles and electromobility within the shortest possible time," Szijjártó was cited as saying at the press conference by official government website kormany.hu.

Makoto Yoda, chairman of the board of GS Yuasa International, said that the Miskolc plant will be the first outside Japan where the company will manufacture lithium-ion batteries. With the investment, 51 jobs will be created in the first phase, with construction works set to begin in February.

GS Yuasa chose Miskolc as the plantʼs site because of its good infrastructure, skilled labor and the support of the cityʼs leaders, kormany.hu noted. The corporation, which manufactures batteries, chargers and other electric equipment, employs some 15,000 workers in 17 countries. The Kyoto-based company’s Hungarian subsidiary, Miskolc-based GS Yuasa Magyarország Kft., was registered on October 30, 2017.

Szijjártó said there are now 170 Japanese companies in Hungary employing a total of 26,000 workers. He added that in 2017, foreign investment worth EUR 3.5 bln arrived in Hungary through 96 government-supported foreign investment projects.