Flexible, automated, sustainable: inside Europe’s most advanced paint line

Motor Classic, a Hungarian company rooted in classic car restoration, has evolved into a forward-looking industrial player through strategic investments in cutting-edge technology. The company’s most recent leap in quality has been the installation of one of the most flexible and advanced automated painting lines in Europe, which supports highly customizable painting cycles for both plastic and metal automotive parts. Motor Classic’s approach exemplifies a new generation of entrepreneurial thinking – where technical decisions are guided by a clear mission and long-term vision.

Not all entrepreneurs are the same. By its very nature, running a business is a gamble – on an idea, a market, a future yet to be written. But some entrepreneurs go further. They do not merely react to change—they anticipate it. They do not fear risk; they embrace it as a vital part of growth. These are visionaries willing to step into the game themselves, to leverage their skills, and to accept that the ambition for major evolution also carries the possibility of a hard fall.

In these kinds of entrepreneurial ventures, every technical choice, every investment, and every innovation is anything but random. They are rooted in a mission that defines day-to-day operations and a vision that guides values and long-term direction. This is where thinking outside the box takes shape, enabling companies to face even the toughest conditions with the right mindset.

Sometimes, the perfect conditions align: the right inspiration, the right time, the courage to take bold steps. That is when a business becomes a success story. And the story we are telling today is exactly one of those: starting as a classic car restorer, Motor Classic - based in Tatabánya, Hungary – has grown into a specialised paint shop, turning a bold vision into a tangible competitive edge under the leadership of an entrepreneur known for innovation and calculated risk-taking.

At one point in its trajectory, Motor Classic decided to build up a solid and cutting-edge technology industrial background to be able to solve any issues related to car restoration in-house. During the last 10 years, the company has invested a lot in technologies such as CNC machining and chrome plating: the last addition to this vast array of production technologies is a robotic painting solution with a state-of-the-art plant that is today one of the most flexible and efficient painting line in Europe for premium automotive metal and plastic components.

The vision of Motor Classic was to create a unique, one-of-a-kind paint line that would stand out from any standard solution on the market. The automated paint line was built in 2020 and has been operating since 2021, incorporating the most advanced technological solutions. It was developed through a cooperation between KNIPL, a Hungarian paint line builder specializing in KTL/e-coating solutions, and J. Wagner, a leading name in application technology.

The development environment

The Hungarian automotive market remains one of the key pillars of the country’s economy. It is home to several major OEMs and Tier 1 suppliers and plays a crucial role in both traditional and electric vehicle production across Europe. However, like many other markets, it is currently facing several challenges, including labour shortages, rising raw material costs, and global supply chain uncertainties.

At the same time, the transition to e-mobility and the adoption of Industry 4.0 technologies are creating exciting new opportunities: the increasing demand for high-quality, complex components, advanced surface treatment technologies, and sustainable production methods are driving entrepreneurs in the sector to invest in state-of-the-art solutions. Their goal: to ensure a production process that is consistently flexible, efficient, and capable of delivering the highest quality standards. “In short, while the Hungarian automotive sector is transforming, it remains strong and full of potential, especially for innovative, quality focused suppliers like us,” says Zsolt Nagy. “This is why I decided to make such an investment, not without a fair share of entrepreneurial risk. My gut instinct told me to go for it, as the market was sending interesting signals, and the increase in production volume requested by one of our OEM clients was just the final push I needed.”

Motor Classic: a history of its own

The story of Motor-Classic began nearly 30 years ago under extremely modest conditions. The founder, Zsolt Nagy, started refurbishing motorcycles in a small garage in Környebánya, not far from Motor Classic’s current location in Tatabánya, using limited tools. From the very beginning, his work was defined by a commitment to quality and attention to detail, which quickly earned him a strong reputation. More and more people approached him with restoration projects. This is how the company gradually specialized in the refurbishment of vintage cars, particularly Mercedes models from the 1950s, 60s, and 70s. “Restoring classic vehicles is not just a profession, but a way of life that demands continuous learning, flexibility, pushing boundaries, and delivering the highest possible quality. These core values still define our company’s approach today,” proudly says Zsolt Nagy.

Motor-Classic has grown continuously by reinvesting a significant part of its profits in technological and human development, always intending to implement cutting-edge technologies. This led to the establishment of a CNC machining department and a robotic paint shop, among others. “Today, Motor Classic has 4 business units: besides its core classic-car restoration workshop, there are CNC Machinery, Surface Treatment (Zinc, Copper, and Nickel electroplated coatings + manual painting), and Industrial Robotic Painting. We are a stable company providing a livelihood for more than 120 families, recognized both in Hungary and internationally. The name Motor Classic has become synonymous with quality and reliability, as evidenced by numerous domestic and international awards, as well as the trust of our clients. Over the years, our scope of activities has expanded, and today we also serve as a modern supplier for high-volume production, particularly in the field of surface treatment and painting of plastic and metal automotive components. We mainly supply premium automotive brands, and the majority of our products are exported.”

A success in the making

The robotic paint shop constitutes the youngest division of Motor Classic. The development of this new business unit was driven by the sudden increase in demand for Porsche mirror parts from SMR. “In the autumn of 2020, to increase painting capacity, our management decided to invest in a more advanced coating technology with the idea in mind to follow the growth of domestic automotive production led by the development of new OEM assembly plants in Hungary (Mercedes 2012, BMW 2025, BYD 2025). By the end of March 2021, our robotic paint shop was completed,” says Jean-Romain Py, Business Development Manager at Motor Classic.
“It took another six months to truly bring it to life and begin mass painting of components that met the strict quality standards of the automotive industry. The short timeline, further complicated by COVID waves, posed serious challenges to everyone involved in the project, on both the supplier and investor sides.

However, the biggest challenge was building a capable team entirely from scratch. It was no easy task to find the right professionals in such a short amount of time, both for operating the equipment and for establishing the technological processes and supporting operations,” Viktória Tasnádi, Key Account Manager, says. Eventually, the team came together, and mass production began in August 2021. Since then, thanks to further developments, the business unit is now ready to take on new projects.

“Despite the initial difficulties, we can proudly say that today we are coating various plastic and metal components for premium category cars using one of the most advanced painting technologies available on the market,” underlines Zsolt Nagy.

Highly flexible: a solution for every painting requirement

Motor Classic currently operates a fully automated painting line as well as four manual paint booths for smaller series, prototypes, or custom finishes. The automatic line is suitable for treating both plastic and metal parts, mainly aluminium alloys. The system uses double-sided jigs with a large painting window (1900mm x 1200mm). All jigs are tracked by RFID, and the painting, flash-off, drying and cooling phases can be specifically customized for each of them.

The line consists of a multi-zone system organized around a central track along which two 6+1-axis Fanuc R-2000iC robots handle and monitor the jigs in and out the individual treatment stations following a pre-set sequence. The task is complex: to achieve high-quality results, hundreds of parameters must align, and each parameter must be assigned a precise tolerance window to create a stable and repeatable process. At the line’s entrance, there is a loading/unloading area equipped with the first 6+1-axis manipulator, which transfers the jigs with the parts to be painted to the robots on the line and receives from them the ones with the finished parts ready to proceed to quality control, packaging, and shipping. The line can perform two material-specific pre-treatment processes: CO₂ (dry-ice) cleaning for plastics, which ensures effective and contactless surface preparation, and a 3-stage alkaline immersion cycle for metal parts, which includes drying and cooling steps. In this second case, “The robot automatically immerses, lifts, and drains the jigs in the degreasing, rinsing and DI-rinsing tanks and then takes them to the opposite side for drying and cooling,” Viktória Tasnádi explains.

“After immersion, any remaining liquid is dried off the gripper head to eliminate even the smallest water droplets, which could cause defects during painting. Once dried, the robot then transfers the jigs to the various painting stations to carry out the assigned process recipe.”

The process continues in four temperature- and humidity-controlled spray booths, each equipped with four Fanuc P-250iB 6+1-axis painting robots. These allow coating any complex 3D geometry with excellent repeatability. The painting robots are equipped with J. Wagner electrostatic application equipment, as well as HVLP and Bell Spray technologies: the choice between electrostatic and pneumatic application depends on the size and shape of the parts to be painted, thus enabling precise and consistent finishing results. The application technology handles 1k and 2k solvent-based or water-based paints, which can be used simultaneously within the same production cycle, maximizing flexibility and output. The paint kitchen features a multiple-colour paint supply system. “The components are treated with multiple coating layers in four spray booths,” Viktória Tasnádi goes on to explain. “We can combine a 2k water-based primer, a 2k solvent-based primer/filler with a putty-like consistency, a 1k water-borne base coat in different colours, and a 2k solvent-borne clear coat. Each coating system has a dedicated application booth. Currently, we are assessing the implementation of further solvent-based painting systems because we are receiving a lot of requests. At present, we use a four-layer coating system for exterior metal parts, consisting of two primers, a base coat, and a clear coat. For plastic exterior components, a three-layer system is applied, including a primer, a base coat, and a clear coat.”

After each booth, the parts pass through the same flash-off/drying/cooling tunnel, where two 3-axis manipulators perform the necessary processes. “Flash-off lasts 15 minutes at ambient temperature, and curing 30 minutes at 80 °C. We have 8 positions in the flash-off area, 14 positions in the oven and other 7 positions in the cooling area. A reliable air circulation and filtration system allows drying components coated with water-based and solvent-borne products next to each other without affecting the quality of the finishes,” Viktória Tasnádi adds. “We can also choose to apply a wet-on-wet paint system. Essentially, this automatic painting line gives us full flexibility, since it is not bound by the rigidity of a traditional conveyor or a specific tack time.”

The controlled-environment painting technology ensures exceptionally low scrap rates, even for challenging finishes such as piano black and high-gloss coatings. The entire line is supported by two high-capacity air handling units, along with multiple heating, cooling, and other auxiliary systems to ensure optimal painting conditions. In addition, the line is equipped with eco-friendly features such as a VOC burner and waste water treatment systems, featuring a KMU evaporator that treats the water curtains of the painting booths and recirculates clean water into the system, significantly reducing environmental impact. “Waste water from water-based and solvent-based painting booths follows different treatment circuits, and then both water streams converge to the vacuum evaporator,” Jean-Romain Py points out. “The concentrate is disposed of, whereas the purified water is recycled and recirculated into the system, in a closed circuit.”

The line is completed by a laboratory where Motor Classic manages all short-term quality tests in-house before releasing a production batch. The lab is equipped with a microscope that allows conducting analyses in case the quality control team detects surface defects and preparing a correction plan for the technical team. “We also have offline programming capacity, which helps us to be more efficient in terms of development and set-up of painting recipes,” underlines Viktória Tasnádi. “90% of the robot trajectories are done offline, while the remaining 10% is done online when the plant is not working.”

Ambitious goals of business growth for the future

The robotic paint shop’s operations are divided into three main areas:

- The technology team works in 12-hour continuous shifts;

- The preparation and quality teams work in two 8-hour shifts;

- The support team operates in a single 9-hour shift.

Besides the automatic painting line for mass production, Motor Classic coats small series, test series and custom products in four manual spray booths (designed and supplied by the Italian Blowtherm) with a highly-qualified team of manual painters, whose experience derives from their work on classic cars. “From an efficiency and cost-effectiveness perspective, our goal is to increase the operation time from the current 3–4 days to 6 days per week. To achieve this, we must focus on acquiring new customers, and to ensure greater stability, we aim to win projects from non-automotive sectors as well,” concludes Zsolt Nagy. 

“We intend to continue providing our clients with sustainable, automated, and high-quality surface treatment services in the long term. In addition, we want to strengthen our export partnerships and become a supplier to new premium customers. Digitalization and Industry 4.0 solutions also play a key role in our plans. We are currently evaluating several technological improvements aimed at reducing contamination levels even further. Our goal is to achieve an even higher level of quality and production efficiency. There is increasing demand for special visual solutions, such as Liquid Chrome and other high-gloss surfaces, as well as pad printing. Accordingly, we are constantly developing our painting technologies and materials and increasing automation in order to keep pace with market expectations.”

Click here to see how Motor Classic's fully automatic painting line works