At a total cost of EUR 800m, the plant is situated in the city of Kecskemet, which sits approximately 100km South-East of Budapest.

Approximately 3,000 members of staff will be employed by the luxury German automaker and a further 10,000 jobs will be created for suppliers.

Opened at a ceremonial event by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, Dieter Zetsche, chief executive officer of Mercedes' parent company Daimler AG, and plant director Frank Klein, the Kecskemet plant is expected to produce in the region of 120,000 B-Class cars.

Dieter Zetsche (Inset), chief executive officer of Daimler AG, commented: 'This plant is an important milestone of our growth strategy. Kecskemet is a model plant, an ideal factory in flexibility, efficiency and quality. We are setting new standards.

He continued: 'When we started building this plant in 2009, the indicators of the global economy were pointing toward a downturn. There were more than a few experts who said the automotive industry would never return to the level before the crisis, let alone experience growth. These experts have been proven wrong.

'For Mercedes Benz, 2011 was the most successful year in the history of the company and in 2012 we are going for another record,' Zetsche added.

Added by: Luke Durkin 
New Media Editor