Hungarian plant of Suzuki had a stupendous year
Magyar Suzuki has published specifics of how it fared in 2019, reporting the sale of 194,447 vehicles in 123 countries, 13.1% more than in 2018. Globally it sold 185,002 passenger cars manufactured in Esztergom (northern Hungary), specifically 133,515 Vitara and 51,487 SX4 S-CROSS models. As output picked up, the company's revenue jumped 23.4% year on year to EUR 2.41 billion.
Material costs, a decisive part of expendiures at Magyar Suzuki, rose to EUR 1.7 bn in 2019 from EUR 1.56 bn in 2018. Other expenditures also grew substantially to EUR 337 mn from EUR 224.7 mn.
Operating profit came in at eur 91.53 million, practically unchanged from 2018, which led to a drop of magyar suzuki's operating margin to 3.8% in 2019.
The company's after-tax profit was close to EUR 84.5 million last year, which marks a 5.4% yr/yr growth.
just like in the previous years, magyar suzuki does not pay a dividend from 2019 profits this year either.
Suzuki remains market leader
Suzuki upped its market share by 2.2 percentage points last year and finished as market leader for the fourth consecutive year. A total of 25,766 Suzuki passenger cars were registered in Hungary in 2019. The most popular model was Vitara once again, with 12,106 registrations. Of the Top3 sellers on the passenger car market, Suzuki's SX4 S-CROSS model came in second, with 9,246 units sold in 2019. The company also pointed out that 16.32% of all new passenger cars registered in Hungary last year (157,906) were Suzuki models.
Suzuki steps up game in other areas too
Suzuki's Hungarian operation strengthened its position not only in the car segment, but also in the engine and boat engine segments. Magyar Suzuki has sold 33,867 engines and 6,003 outboard motors in Hungary and foreign markets since 2005. Suzuki's outboard motor business has been the hub of the Central and Eastern European region since 2017 and is a market leader in Hungary with 567 registered outboard motors. The division exported 1,469 units in 2019 to Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Belarus, Czechia, Slovakia, Romania, Serbia, Bulgaria and Albania. The motorcycle business of Magyar Suzuki has been the group's European distributor with the largest market share for five years in a row. It had 575 new motorcycles registered last year, up 24% yr/yr. The most popular model in Hungary was the VV-Strom 650 which also made it to the Top3 of the most popular bikes in the country. The company sold cars, motorcycles and outboard motors in 123 countries, including Hungary, last year.
Esztergom, a key location from various aspects
Magyar Suzuki Corporation has become the Europe-based centre for spare parts and accessories of Suzuki Motor Corp. on 1 April 2019. The logistics hub in Esztergom has become a vital automotive centre in Central Europea. Last year, staff took care of the warehousing and distribution of 30 truckloads worth of goods per day, delivered by 700 suppliers, 16% of whom were Hungarians. In scope of turning the facility into a logistics hub the company has strengthened its organisational structure and digitalised its entire internal parts supply system, while creating about 80 new jobs in the Esztergom plant. It delivered 125 truckloads worth of parts and spare parts on a weekly average to the distributors and dealerships of 120 countries on five continents from the largely automated complex last year.
