A joint venture between South Korea’s LG Electronics and Canada’s Magna International has become the latest EV venture to announce building plans in Hungary.
The LG Magna e-Powertrain plant will make electric motors, and will later add a suite of electrified powertrain parts, including inverters and on-board chargers.
It will be built near the city of Miskolc in Hungary’s north-east, some 40km north of Debrecen, which has emerged as a major hub of the European EV industry over the past five years.
The move is the latest in a rush among transnational companies fighting to establish production volumes and market share in the rapidly emerging EV market (see further reading). In recent years BMW and Samsung have been joined by Chinese giants such as Contemporary Amperex Technology and Eve Power in taking advantage of Hungary convenient location, cheap labour and supportive government.
The joint venture, which was formed in 2021, made its announcement at a press conference held before the opening today of the world’s largest motor show, IAA Mobility, in Munich.
The planned factory will have a gross floor area of 24,000 sq m, and will be completed by the end of 2025. It will become LG Magna’s fourth plant; the other three are in Incheon in South Korea, Nanjing in China, and Ramos Arispe in Mexico.
Diba Ilunga, the president of Magna Powertrain, commented in a press statement: “Adding the new Hungary facility marks another milestone for the JV in executing its growth plan. With this new capacity – the joint venture’s first in Europe – LG Magna e-Powertrain is well positioned to keep pace with customer demands and increases in global EV production.”
No value was given for the planned facility.
