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KOSTAL Group is a global, family-owned German company developing market-leading solar and automotive solutions. In Hungary, KOSTAL is building its first Global Business Services Center (KBS) to provide business support in IT, finance, controlling, procurement, master data, sales, sustainability, and HR fields. The modern and sustainable office is located in the heart of Budapest. This will be a global center with high value-added and complex processes that you can help build.
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KOSTAL – a family-owned company that can tell a lot of stories from its long history
The KOSTAL company history is the solid foundation on which we are building our future.
Why is our history so important to us? Because our history explains how and why we have become what we are today. KOSTAL is a technology company and a family-owned business. These two are inseparably intertwined.
Our technological innovative strength and our growth over more than 100 years is based on the entrepreneurial spirit of the Kostal family and the passion of our employees, working together constantly for our joint success.Â
For the Kostal corporate family, the company always was and is the first consideration. For this reason the name of the company KOSTAL is always written in upper-case letters. And nothing can better illustrate how we think and act than our history. That is why it is so important to us.
The growth of the Hungarian Global Business Center is continuous - the 100. colleague joined the company in July 2023. Upon the plans KOSTAL will employ more than 300 employees in Hungary until the end of 2024.
The new Global Business Center of the KOSTAL Group is founded in Hungary. The new flagship office is located in the heart of Budapest and provides business support in IT, finance, procurement, master data, sales and HR fields.
KOSTAL celebrates its 100th anniversary along with a large number of guests, customers, suppliers, public figures from all around the globe, but most importantly with all its employees, who have helped to shape the history of the company. And going forward? We firmly believe that the history of KOSTAL will feature many more success stories because it stands by its values, one of which is: "Building the future today”.
Graduate economist (Dipl.-Oec.) Andreas Kostal is the 4th generation of the Kostal family to join the business. Two years later, Helmut Kostal officially passes on the baton and management of the company to his son Andreas. And this is typical of KOSTAL: the change of generations is painstakingly prepared in good time to ensure that experiences are passed on and new momentum is created.
Building on the technological expertise which the company has acquired over the decades, the company decides to shift the focus of this expertise into markets other than the automotive industry. KOSTAL therefore diversifies and sets up the Automobil Elektrik, Industrie Elektrik and PrĂĽftechnik (SOMA GmbH) business divisions. In 2005, the Kontakt Systeme and Industrie Elektrik business divisions are converted into independent private limited companies.
KOSTAL expands its product range and develops its first electronic products. The smaller and more complex the products, the more the company expands, building on its distinct technological expertise.
Business School Graduate (Dipl.-Kfm.) Helmut Kostal is the third generation of the family to join the business.
KOSTAL develops and launches the first patented switch panel on the European market.
By 1945, the workforce has fallen to around 150 due to the war. Production stopped completely at the end of the war and only in 1947 does KOSTAL obtain approval to recommence production and starts up again with 40 members of staff.
Leopold Kostal’s son, Kurt joins the company, and together they make the decision to concentrate on developing and manufacturing products for the automotive industry.
Leopold Kostal takes the brave and long-lasting strategic decision to move into the automotive industry with the first ever turn indicator, which he developed himself. The automotive turn indicator developed by Leopold Kostal is one of the first of many patented innovations from KOSTAL. These days, they can be found in the vehicles of almost all the world’s leading automotive manufacturers.