executive world Porsche Hungaria Trading Co. Ltd. has a special, distinguished role in the domestic automotive distribution as it has been the market leader since its establishment three decades ago. Since January 2021, its CEO has been Balázs Németh, an experienced crisis manager who has spent almost his entire professional career at the company.
RELIABILITY AND PREDICTABILITY BALÁZS NÉMETH IS THE CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER OF HUNGARY’S LARGEST CAR TRADING FIRM
After graduating from the Budapest University of Economics and Business Administration with a degree in public opinion research, sociology and sports management, "fate had it that Porsche Hungaria was looking for a young economist with a better than average command of German, and that's how I came to work here as a sales coordinator and assistant in 2001 alongside János Eppel, who was then brand manager at Volkswagen,” the CEO tells Diplomacy&Trade.
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In 2004, he became sales manager at Volkswagen and deputy to the brand manager. In 2007, he moved to the retail area where he was director of Porsche Interauto Buda until 2011. At that time, it was one of the biggest dealerships in Hungary, with a lot of service stations, very high sales turnover, many brands, almost 130 employees. “Then came the economic crisis in 2008 and that made things very difficult for us there. We had to lay off quite a lot of people, but I'm very proud that I was able to turn a struggling company into a very successful business in four years, and that I learnt there and then how to manage people and run a company. It was a very serious challenge, to get into and manage such a big system there at the age of 32,” he recalls.
ÁGOTA CSISZÉR
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