15 years of growth and continuous success: Audi Hungaria, a fullyowned subsidiary of Audi AG, is celebrating its 15th anniversary in Gy r this year. In spring 1993, Audi AG signed a purchase agreement for the acquisition of a production hall from Rába, a truck manufacturer based in Gyõr, and announced the establishment of Audi HUNGARIA MOTOR Kft. The purchase of the 100,000 square meter (1,076,391 square foot) production hall was the first milestone in the history of Audi Hungaria. The plant has since grown to 1.6 million square meters (17,222,256 square feet). 5,800 employees build nearly two million engines and over 55,000 automobiles there each year. More than €3.3 billion has been invested in the plant in total.

Initially with 800 employees and daily production of 2,000 engines, Audi Hungaria now employs 5,800 workers who produce as many as 7,000 engines and 300 automobiles each day.

"Audi Hungaria plays a prominent role within Audi AG and the VW Group.As one of Hungary's largest employers, Audi Hungaria is also a figurehead for the Hungarian economy. The rapid development of Audi Hungaria in the past 15 years is a credit to the entrepreneurial dedication, commitment and high level of motivation of the employees," said Frank Dreves, Chairman of the Supervisory Commission of Audi HUNGARIA MOTOR Kft. and Member of the Board of Management for Production of Audi AG.

In 1993, the year in which the company was founded, the first four-cylinder, five-valve gasoline engines were produced at Audi Hungaria. The Gyõr engine plant started series production in 1994 with a daily production capacity of 500 units. The engine range has been expanded substantially over the past 15 years. Today Audi Hungaria is the Audi Group's major engine supplier and the world's second-largest engine plant. Up to 7,000 diesel and gasoline engines with four, six, eight and ten cylinders are produced each day at the plant, which covers more than 1.6 million square meters (17,222,256 square feet).

The Gyõr plant also produces engines for the brands of the Volkswagen Group in addition to Audi. To date, Audi Hungaria has produced more than 15.4 million engines. The 15 millionth engine was installed in an Audi TT, which the company donated to the Hungarian traffic police as a duty vehicle.

The scope of business of Audi HUNGARIA MOTOR Kft. was expanded in 1998 to include automobile production. Since then the company has assembled the Audi TT Coupé and the TT Roadster, which were joined in November 2007 by the Audi A3 Cabriolet. This year automobile production in Gyõr is celebrating its tenth anniversary. Approximately 400,000 automobiles have rolled out of the assembly plant over the past 10 years.

The company's duties were expanded in 2001 to include engine development. The Development Center currently employs some 100 workers.

2004 saw the completion of an additional project: the construction of the Gy r tool shop, which produces numerous body parts for the Audi R8, RS 4 and RS 6.

"Audi Hungaria today is a 'full-function company' in Hungary. Our objective is to further increase our competitiveness within the Volkswagen Group so that we can successfully position ourselves as a partner for future projects. Our past success and our motivated and qualified team will surely enable us to do this," says Thomas Faustmann, Managing Director of Audi HUNGARIA MOTOR Kft.

Audi has invested more than €3.3 billion in the Gyõr site to date, which makes the company one of the largest foreign investors in Hungary. Audi Hungaria is the country's second-largest exporter, accounting for nine percent of Hungary's total export volume.