Suzuki suspends car exports to Russia, Ukraine from Hungarian plant
Suzuki said it exports about 10,000 cars to Russia and Ukraine per year and added that it was trying to shift the affected orders to other markets to maintain its planned production volumes.
Suzuki’s Hungarian business sold 119,098 cars in 2020 based on the latest available figures on its website, including 101,672 vehicles in foreign markets, meaning Russia and Ukraine account for roughly a tenth of its annual exports.
“Our company has no direct Tier 1 suppliers in the areas affected,” Reuters cited spokeswoman Zsuzsanna Bonnar-Csonka as saying, referring to Russia and Ukraine.
“However, we are continuously monitoring the entire supply chain,” she said. She also said the global chip shortage still represented the biggest hurdle.
Bonnar-Csonka said that rising energy costs and the weakening of the forint, which is down by some 3% versus the euro this year, had an additional impact on its operations.
“We are doing our utmost to optimise our manufacturing costs. However, after a certain point, we need to reflect part of these additional costs in new car prices,” Bonnar-Csonka said.
Other major carmakers in Hungary include Mercedes-Benz and Volkswagen group’s Audi division.
Cover photo: MTI/Zsolt Szigetváry. The Suzuki plant in Esztergom, northern Hungary, on 18 March 2020. Suzuki Hungary suspended production at the factory between 23 March and 3 April 2020 which affected 3,200 workers.
