Magyar Suzuki Temporarily Closed Due To Russian Gas Restrictions

Magyar Suzuki has been struggling to recover from the financial recession, and yet it is not enough. Another serious problem for Magyar Suzuki which is the Central and Eastern European automakers: Russia completely stopped gas exports to Ukraine and to all countries connected to the same network and did not mention the day it may resume exports.

This is one of the reasons, why several auto manufacturers such as Magyar Suzuki, were forced to alter their production in the region and temporarily idle specific facilities for a few days.

According to Reuters, Magyar Suzuki halted production on Wednesday of its Hungarian plant due to the gas shortage, with all operation set to be restarted on Monday. Magyar Suzuki’s spokes woman Viktoria Ruska explained the decision was mostly imposed by Hungary’s restriction on industrial users of gas.

Magyar Suzuki is currently one of the largest auto makers in the region with its Esztergom production facility employing more than 5,000 workers. The Magyar Suzuki plant started operations since October 1992, and reached a cumulative production volume of nearly 850,000 units in 2005.

The Magyar Suzuki factory currently has an annual production capacity of 300,000 vehicles each year. Magyar Suzuki assembles several Suzuki variants such as Suzuki Splash, Suzuki Ignis, second generation of Suzuki Swift, Fiat Sedici and Subaru Justy.

Magyar Suzuki announced a two-shift production plan for several days in order to help the parent company align its offering with market demand. In addition, it said that it plans to offer a two-month payment to all employees who agree voluntarily leave the Magyar Suzuki by December 18^th, in order to comply with the initial plant of Magyar Suzuki to cut down one of the three shifts. This meant that approximately one-fifth of the Magyar Suzuki’s total workforce had to leave the company, a fact which underlined Magyar Suzuki’s effort to counteract the economic downturn.