Suzuki speaks out on the Esztergom plant shutdown
Production at Magyar Suzuki Ltd.'s Esztergom plant will be suspended from 15 to 21 January 2023 due to attacks on commercial vessels in the Red Sea area, which are delaying the arrival of engines from Japan for the S-Cross and Vitara models. The company has confirmed that production is scheduled to resume from 22 January.
Nearly 2,000 employees will be directly affected by the production line shutdown, but the company stressed that
the workers' wages will not be affected.
Employees are paid on a monthly payroll basis, so they are paid on rest days, but they are also paid their regular salary when compensated for involuntary rest days, so it is not considered overtime. The company stressed that the working time framework, which will run from April 2023 until the end of June 2024, provides sufficient flexibility to reorganise production.
According to Világgazdaság, about 650 cars are produced in Esztergom every day, so the one-week shutdown means that about 4,550 vehicles will not be manufactured.
This shortfall will be made up later, and in the future parts will be delivered via an alternative route.
It is also important to note that other car manufacturers have taken similar steps in Europe; for example, Tesla and Volvo Car have also temporarily suspended production in Europe.
The S-Cross model affected by the shutdown has been in production in Esztergom since 2013 and has already won several awards at national level. The 500,000th S-Cross was rolled off the production line at the end of September. Last year, the S-Cross was the most popular car on the Hungarian market, with 5,936 units sold, while the other model concerned, the Vitara, was third in terms of market share in Hungary with 4,979 units sold, the company said.
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