Touted eTruck investment seems too good to be true

Automotive

pixabay

One of last weekʼs stories reported by the BBJ was of a huge investment project aiming to build electric lorries in Hungary. At that time, the project manager provided a long list of partners ready to cooperate. According to new research into the claims, not many of these are genuine.

Gábor Benke, CEO of eTruck Motor, recently presented plans of a unique project to manufacture electric trucks near Hegyeshalom, some 175 km northwest of Budapest close to the border with Austria. He claimed the investment would be worth EUR 10 billion, an unusually high amount, and financed with the participation of Chinese investors and a certain König Bank.

Online financial news portal portfolio.hu now says it has found that much of the information provided by Benke is simply not true. 

Some of the discrepancies found by portfolio.hu include:

According to eTruck Motor, one of the partners is famous designer József Zalavari. When contacted by portfolio.hu, Zalavari said that he and Benke met only once, but no partnership was established between the two sides.

Budapest University of Technology and Economics (BME) and Siemens were also indicated as partners in the project, but both have rejected any link.

At the same time, portfolio.hu reports, König Bank does not exist, only König Investment.

Also, there is no direct connection between the Ministry for National Economy and eTruck Motor, contrary to claims made by the latter.

Similarly, no Chinese investors were identified and according to the technical specifications detailed by eTruck, its vehicles would be something of a technological miracle.

Portfolio.hu did not attempt to provide an explanation about the possible motivations of a false project presented by the representatives of eTruck Motor.

Hungary Account Deficit at EUR 561 mln in Q4 Debt

Hungary Account Deficit at EUR 561 mln in Q4

Moldovan Pensions to be Increased as of April 1 World

Moldovan Pensions to be Increased as of April 1

Schoenherr Names Miklós Klenanc as Head of Local M&A Practic... Appointments

Schoenherr Names Miklós Klenanc as Head of Local M&A Practic...

Hungarian Wine Marketing Agency to Host Summit Drinks

Hungarian Wine Marketing Agency to Host Summit

SUPPORT THE BUDAPEST BUSINESS JOURNAL

Producing journalism that is worthy of the name is a costly business. For 27 years, the publishers, editors and reporters of the Budapest Business Journal have striven to bring you business news that works, information that you can trust, that is factual, accurate and presented without fear or favor.
Newspaper organizations across the globe have struggled to find a business model that allows them to continue to excel, without compromising their ability to perform. Most recently, some have experimented with the idea of involving their most important stakeholders, their readers.
We would like to offer that same opportunity to our readers. We would like to invite you to help us deliver the quality business journalism you require. Hit our Support the BBJ button and you can choose the how much and how often you send us your contributions.