Magyar News, 1998. szeptember-1999. augusztus (9. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1999-07-01 / 11-12. szám
A CITY WITH A PAST, PRESENT AND A FUTURE Every city has a special history, in good times and bad times. Some have a lot to talk about. One of these is Győr in the north-western comer of Hungary just about the same drstance from Budapest as it is from Vienna. It is cuddled by three rivers, the Danube, Raba and the Rábca. It seems to be a strategically important place, naturally protected by water besides a strong fortress. Because of the favorable situations many people took residence for short or long periods. In the prehistoric times the Celts and the Illirians called it home.Then the Romans settled in and called it Arrabona. For short periods different German groups tried their luck, but the Avars rode in on horseback and put an end to it. They also chased Slavic groups from East and let them stay in the north of the Carpathian Basin. The final arrangement came with the Hungarian Conquest. Although peaceful existance wasn’t secured, the city was always able to bounce back. It was devastated by the Tartars but soon after it received the right to become a town in 1271. The city fought not only the Tartars but later the Turks, protecting the West and ironically it fought the West holding back the German invasions.. When one walks the streets of Győr one does not find many historical monuments because of all the destruction it liad to endure. Yesterday: Building diesel motors for the Rába trucks Győr at the beginning of the Turkish invasion In our modem times Győr with a population of 132,000, is considered one of the largest industrial cities in Hungaiy. Among many other tilings they manufactured were the Raba tmcks, and if you go back in your memories, you might remember the old style taxis that remind us of the ones in England. For a long period outboard motors were also produced there. These were designed to be used on the ocean and were highly praised by the American merchant marines. An outstanding reputation was earned by producing locomotives and railroad cars, farm equipments, textiles and agricultural products The history of the city and the endurance of its population was a welcoming sign for the western businessmen, who surely noticed the signs. One of the most prestigious automobile company saw an opportunity to expand their production. This is the AUDI, which ranks third among the luxuiy passenger car producers, slightly behind the Mercedes and the BMW, outdoing Volvo, Japanese and American luxury car manufacturers. In 1993 Audi purchased a fully developed industrial site in Győr, added on one and a quarter million square feet (!) and now employs over 3500. It builds engines and does the final automobile assembly and testing. The yearly capacity of producing engines is one million. It makes 3,000 4-cylinder and a 1,000 of 6- and 8- cytinder engines a day. Pretty remarkable. In addition 50,000 new sport model, TT Audi coupe and Roadster, are being produced here each year. Maybe it is getting to be too much, but I can’t resist writing about one more car. This is the new Beetle. You might see a sticker on it saying that it was assembled in Mexico, but if you carefully read the sticker on the doorpost, you will see: “Audi Hungária Motor Kft”. Tins goes for the other Audi cars, too. After finding out that the Audi has sometliing to do locally, also with our Hungarian community, I knocked on Géza Bodnár’s door at the Continental Motors in Fairfield, CT. It was the right place to go, as it turned out Continental Motors is ranked #4 among the Audi dealers in America. Mr. Bodnár was also an invited guest to the Audi Hungária Motor Kft. plant in Győr. I asked him about Iris expe-Today: Audi TT in front of the Dunakapu restaurant Page 1
