KECSKEMET, Hungary (AP) -- German luxury car maker Mercedes Benz is inaugurating a new manufacturing plant in Hungary, the company's first in Eastern Europe.
The plant built at a cost of euro800 million ($1.06 billion) in the central Hungarian city of Kecskemet, 100 kilometers (62 miles) southeast of Budapest, the capital, will employ 3,000 people and create a further 10,000 jobs for suppliers.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and Dieter Zetsche, the CEO of Mercedes' parent company Daimler AG, will launch the assembly line for the company's B-Class cars later on Thursday.
The plant, expected to produce 100,000 cars a year, is one of the largest-ever direct investments in Hungary and a welcome bright spot amid an otherwise difficult economic situation.
