The opening ceremony on July 13, 2023, marked the doubling of production capacity to 400,000 units annually, positioning Kecskemét as Mercedes’ largest factory in Europe and the second largest globally. This expansion comes in the wake of a controversial announcement from the company’s management regarding increased labor demands in Germany without corresponding wage increases, prompting protests from employees. CEO Ola Källenius emphasized the synergy of high quality and cost efficiency at the new facility, which Hungarian Prime Minister Péter Magyar hailed as a symbol of German-Hungarian cooperation.