Turkey really wants to build its own car and to do so, five local companies have joined forces to create the “Joint Venture for Turkey’s Car Industry and Commerce Co.”
The joint venture involves Anadolu Group, BMC, Kök Group, Turkcell, and Zorlu Holding and sees each company with a 19 per cent share in the venture while five per cent is owned by the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey.
On Saturday, the joint venture announced the appointment of Mehmet Gürcan Karakaş, a former top global executive from Bosch, as the automaker’s chief executive.
“I was born in Turkey, grew up here, went to college in this country, and took my first step into business life in Turkey.
“With this project, I am happy to have the opportunity to transfer my knowledge and experience in the global market to my country. Rest assured, Turkey will produce a competitive brand in the global market,” Karakaş said.
President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is particularly excited for the country to have an automotive industry of its own. He revealed last year that the first working prototype will hit the streets in 2019 and the production car should reache the market by 2021.
“I want to own the first automobile (produced), provided that I will pay for it. No one should hesitate. We will produce Turkey’s car with the best design and technology, both for our country and the world,” he said in November.
Erdoğan reportedly wants the country’s first production car to be a hybrid or all-electric.