Debrecen4U
September 26, 2025
BMW’s Debrecen plant officially opens in Debrecen
Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó announced on July 31, 2018, that one of the world’s most successful and largest car manufacturers is building its newest plant near Debrecen. The 400-hectare area will produce around 150,000 cars a year using the most modern technologies.
“It will help us to keep Hungarian economic growth above 4% in the long term. This will allow us to not only keep up with, but also set the pace in both regional and continental economic competition. This is another attraction for Debrecen and its surroundings,” said Péter Szijjártó in 2018.
The city’s excellent infrastructure, logistics connections, and existing supplier network spoke in its favor. Mayor László Papp said that this announcement will rewrite the future of Debrecen.
“It will move all sectors of Debrecen, from different areas of the economy to other living spaces of the city, including culture and other areas. A general recovery can be expected in the coming years,” explained Mayor László Papp.
“The people of Debrecen were positive about the arrival of the German car giant. Most of them highlighted the importance of job creation. This is an opportunity for them. It is not so bad to work at the BMW factory; it is also prestigious, and I think what is very good is that the company has settled in Eastern Hungary, and so the workforce can stay in this region,” Dániel Juhász highlighted.
“Seven years ago, there was only a harvested cornfield in the area near Nagymacs, where the factory was finally built. The automotive giant spent two years searching for the right location to build its new plant. They examined many regions because they had high expectations,” said the BMW Board Member responsible for production in Debrecen.
“We finally found everything we were looking for in Debrecen, and I would add: we looked at more than 160 locations. A competitive location, committed authorities, and very good infrastructure,” said Oliver Zipse, the BMW Group Board Member responsible for production.
In October 2018, the mayor of Debrecen and the representative of the company signed a contract at the University of Debrecen for the sale and purchase of the 560-football-field-sized plot of land to serve as the site for the investment.
Groundwork began in the area in the spring of 2019 and lasted for eight months.
A year later, 123 km of underground cables were installed on the 400-hectare site, and 500 poles were placed to ensure the stability of the future building. The city of Debrecen developed the industrial area for BMW’s new plant in record time, in just one and a half years, and it was handed over to the company in the spring of 2020.
“We are very satisfied with the progress of the project and that we have managed to start the first phase of construction, as you can see. The preparations for the plant’s infrastructure are proceeding according to plan,” emphasized Michele Melchiorre, Managing Director of BMW Manufacturing Hungary.
The company has also established a strategic partnership with the University of Debrecen and the Debrecen Vocational Training Center.
“At Brassai, we offer training courses for electronics technicians, mechatronics technicians, and automotive mechatronics technicians. I would like to emphasize for those who are interested that “automotive mechatronics technician” is the name according to the new professional register, and this is the classic car mechanic training. These three training courses at Brassai will ensure the company’s future workforce,” explained Zsolt Tirpák, chancellor of the Debrecen Vocational Training Center.
Construction of the buildings on the site began in February 2022. At that time, the company announced that the plant would operate in an exceptionally environmentally friendly manner: for the first time in the world, no fossil energy sources are used at all. In the carbon dioxide-free Debrecen plant, a significant part of the electricity will be generated directly on-site, and the rest will be covered by 100 percent renewable, largely local sources. Where possible, manufacturing materials and resources will be reused, while waste heat from cooling will be used to heat the interior spaces and water.
The foundation stone of the plant was laid on June 1, 2022. Before the foundation stone was laid, Debrecen Mayor László Papp said of the strenuous work that “They had undertaken and accomplished the impossible.”
“Just as BMW’s new plant in Debrecen is redefining car manufacturing, so too will we redefine Debrecen and the eastern region of Hungary with the arrival of BMW. The city is characterized by a dynamism and development that has not been experienced before since the announcement in 2018,” he emphasized at the foundation stone laying ceremony.
The member of the BMW Board of Management responsible for production highlighted that as a leading premium car manufacturer, they think long-term and make responsible decisions. He believes that they are making history with the Debrecen plant, as this will be the first plant where the new generation of their electric cars will be manufactured. They are also taking sustainability seriously, as the plant will be carbon-free.
“Our decision is a clear commitment to Hungary, as this country has grown into a very strong automotive industry location in recent decades, with great prospects. The speed of change and the extent of development are amazing,” added Milan Nedeljkovic, Member of the BMW AG Board of Management responsible for production.
By the fall of 2022, the factory’s communication center building was already structurally ready. The 17,000-square-meter facility serves as the central building of the huge plant complex, where, among other things, the company’s management and administration are located. In parallel, the construction of several important production buildings and service facilities began. In addition, a hundred young people were able to start their internship at BMW’s training center, and it was revealed then that the Neue Klasse model will be produced in the Debrecen factory, which the Bavarian company sees as an important milestone.
“This will be an electric car, which means a lot to BMW. We always say that the future of BMW is written here, because what we will produce here will open a very important chapter in the company’s life. We will start producing our electric BMW model in Debrecen, and it will spread worldwide from there. And we are very proud of this,” said Hans-Peter Kemser, BMW Debrecen Plant Director.
Two years ago, in September, students from the three technical schools of the Debrecen Vocational Training Center began their studies within the framework of BMW’s dual vocational training program. A total of 100 young people began to master the basics of four professions. At the handover of the Training Center of BMW Group Plant Debrecen, it was emphasized that the global company had established the most modern educational center of the network in the “cívis” city.
“We have invested more than EUR 20 million in this 6,500 square meter facility, and this place offers a world-class, technology-enabled learning environment and training conditions for educational and practical work,” emphasized Ilka Horstmeier, Member of the Board of Management of BMW AG responsible for Human Resources and Labor Relations at the handover of the training center.
In parallel with the construction of the plant, the construction of a solar park began in 2024. Seventy-one thousand panels were installed, partly on the roofs of the buildings and partly on the ground. The facility can produce the energy needs of 20,000 households in one year. “BMW’s Debrecen plant is a flagship in many respects, as the construction of the solar park also shows,” the mayor emphasized in connection with the investment.
In the same year, the history of BMW in Debrecen reached another important milestone: the first fully electric Neue Klasse test cars rolled off the production line here. This marked the beginning of the final preparatory phase for series production.
This autumn, the very first member of the Neue Klasse model family, the iX3, was presented in Munich. The purely electric car represents one of the biggest leaps in innovation in the company’s history: it offers revolutionary digital solutions and a significantly increased range. Mayor László Papp said in this regard that the city has now found its place on the map of the world’s automotive industry.
This autumn has been a busy one for the plant, which welcomed a record number of new recruits, almost 250 new employees. The reason for this is that BMW will soon be launching a second shift. Not only new employees have arrived at BMW’s Debrecen plant, but also students. In recent days, another hundred have joined the dual vocational training program, bringing the total number of young people studying at the plant to three hundred. The number of employees now exceeds three thousand.
Source:dehir.hu | Photo credit:Facebook (Debrecen városa)
