German carmaker Audi to increase engine production in Hungary - minister

BUDAPEST (Reuters) - German carmaker Audi <NSUG.DE> will increase the production of engines at its Hungarian factory to 2.25 million units next year, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said on Monday.

An Audi representative at the premium carmaker's Ingolstadt headquarters in Germany declined to comment on internal planning.

"They plan to manufacture 2.25 million engines next year, and so far 2 million has been the annual record," Szijjarto told a news conference, when asked about a report that Audi planned to cut jobs at its Hungarian plant.

Audi's Hungarian division said in April that it planned to boost the production of engines at its factory significantly in 2019 from the 1.95 million it made there in 2018, though it didn't give a figure.

It also said in July that it would expand the manufacture of engines for electric cars at the factory, which is in the western town of Gyor. It said then that its e-transformation project would create 250 jobs.

The carmaker, which is controlled by Volkswagen <VOWG_p.DE>, has been making engines in Hungary since 1994. Out of the 1.95 engines produced in 2018, 9,453 were electric axle drive units, according to the company's website.

(Reporting by Gergely Szakacs; Editing by Edmund Blair and David Clarke)