SOUND INVESTMENT The Alpine group made a good investment when it chose Hungary to become the European production centre of quality mobile solutions more than a decade ago. Whilst achieving rapid growth, Alpine Hungary has built strong links with its partners and today makes large contributions to the group’s global success. Edina Beale reports.
E
uropean sales in the field of OEM production were rising fast in 1999, when Alpine decided to set up its first and only European production facility in Hungary. The former Eastern bloc country provided a perfect location for the Japanese parent company for various reasons. Alpine at that time had already been operating its European headquarters in Munich, with sales and development center in Stuttgart, the UK, France and some other European countries. Hungary’s geographic position has enabled the new factory, Alpine
Electronics Manufacturing of Europe Ltd (AOHU), to closely liaise with these centres in order to fully satisfy customers in the whole region. In addition to its low labour cost and low transportation cost, Hungary’s position also provided the opportunity for custom free import within the European Union via applying Customs-Free Zone business scheme for the Hungarian plant. The brand new state-of-the-art manufacturing plant was built in a 129,000 m2 land in Biatorbágy, 20km west of Budapest capital.
Strong links with partners on both sides Today AOHU supplies products to the most prestigious European car manufacturers. The portfolio includes CD and radio audio products, navigation systems with built-in DVD readerand dash information displays. BMW and Mercedes are the most significant customers, but sales with the VW groups and Honda have also increased lately. In addition, the company manufactures a small volume – approximately 200 products – for Volvo each month.
