Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0

Author-Name: János Rechnitzer
Author-Workplace-Name: Head of the Department of Regional Studies and Public Policy
at the Széchenyi István University
Author-Email: rechnj@sze.hu

Author-Name: Róbert Hausmann
Author-Workplace-Name: Magyar Nemzeti Bank (Central Bank of Hungary)
Author-Email: hausmannr@mnb.hu

Author-Name: Tamás Tóth
Author-Workplace-Name: Magyar Nemzeti Bank (Central Bank of Hungary)
Author-Email: tothtamas1@mnb.hu

Title: Insight into the Hungarian Automotive
Industry in International Comparison

Abstract: The paper examines the features of the Hungarian automotive industry1 in international
comparison, in the form of a descriptive analysis. The comparison focuses primarily on
the automotive industry of the Visegrád region, Germany and Austria, as well as on
processes in the EU. The analysis reviews the academic background of the sector, and
then provides an insight into the history of the automotive industry of the Visegrád
region, focusing on the socialist past of the automotive industry and the consequences
thereof. In the last part of the analysis, we compare contemporary Hungarian industry
trends with the features of it in the Visegrád countries and Europe, based on the
statistics of Eurostat, by company size and ownership structure, as well as on the
corporate income tax return database of the Hungarian tax authority (NAV). The main
conclusion of the paper is that the automotive industry shows outstanding productivity
within the Hungarian national economy, but on the other hand, the SMEs of the sector
are less productive than large enterprises and this difference is the highest in Hungary
within the region. In order to change the situation, large foreign enterprises should
outsource their higher value added activity in the region and raise wages accordingly,
and on the other hand, it would be necessary to strengthen and advance Hungarianowned
SMEs within the value chain.
Classification-JEL: L61, O31, P23, R11, D41
Keywords: competitiveness, labour productivity, V4 region
Pages: 119–142
Volume: 16
Issue: 1
Year: 2017
File-URL: http://english.hitelintezetiszemle.hu/letoltes/janos-rechnitzer-robert-hausmann-tamas-toth.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
Handle: RePEc:mnb:finrev:v:16:y:2017:i:1:p:119-142