Speaking at the "Hyundai IONIQ 3 Serial Production Start Ceremony" held at Hyundai Motor Turkey Izmit Factory, Minister of Industry and Technology Mehmet Fatih Kacır wished that the investment, which is the fruit of the vision of being among the leading countries in new generation mobility technologies, will be beneficial to the sector, Kocaeli, the industrial and technology base, the country and the nation.
Kacır stated that we are going through a period in which the global economy has changed its shell and established assumptions are collapsing, and that the approach that focuses on cost advantage in international trade has been replaced by a new approach that prioritizes supply security, technology competence and strategic durability, and that with the acceleration of technology development, countries have adopted policies that will expand their capabilities and capacities in critical technologies.
Pointing out that especially developed economies have implemented more effective and interventionist practices to strengthen their production infrastructures, gain competence in critical technologies and attract strategic investments to their own geographies, Kacır said, "However, it remains unclear to what extent the losses caused by the policies that have been maintained in these countries for many years and weakened the industry can be compensated by the steps taken today.
"Türkiye IS AMONG THE WORLD'S PREMIUM PRODUCTION AND TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT BASES"
Faced with geopolitical tensions, increasing energy costs, efficiency problems and competitive pressure, the industrial production index remains 11.5 percent lower in Germany, 5.8 percent in Italy and 3.3 percent in France compared to the pre-pandemic period.
"The fact that Türkiye increased its industrial production by 31 percent in the same period clearly demonstrates the importance of our supports that strengthen our research and innovation capacity, our steps to popularize planned industrialization, our investments in qualified human resources and our policies that prioritize value-added production," said Kacır, adding that thanks to the production and investment-oriented economic model implemented in the last 23 years under the leadership of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, exports increased from 36 billion dollars to 278 billion dollars and the added value of the manufacturing industry from 41 billion dollars. He stated that they have increased the amount to over 250 billion dollars and emphasized that they have moved the country among the world's leading production and technology development bases.
Minister Kacır said, "With its production capability and strong ties with global value chains, Turkey is today the leading exporter country in terms of product and market diversity in a wide range extending from China to the middle of Central Europe. We have achieved these successes with our entrepreneurs, industrialists, engineers and workers who embrace our 'Strong Industry, Strong Turkey' vision, produce, develop and dare to innovate. In the last 23 years, its production increased from 357 thousand units to 1.5 million units and its exports "Our automotive industry, which increased its value from 4.8 billion dollars to 41.5 billion dollars, is among the locomotive and leading sectors of the Turkish industry," he said.
Stating that the sector, which employs 60 thousand people in the main industry and nearly 250 thousand people in the sub-industry, feeds production, investment and employment in many areas from logistics to software, from iron and steel to electronics, and provides high added value to the country's economy, with its wide value chain and strong multiplier effect, Kacır continued as follows:
"As the Ministry of Industry and Technology, we have launched a multi-dimensional support architecture in order to increase the competitiveness of such a strategic sector for our country and to deepen its technology development capacity. Since 2002, we have supported and paved the way for 3 thousand 880 projects of automotive main and sub-industry companies with a total investment size of 1.5 trillion liras, with our investment incentives. In our incentive system, which we have renewed based on the new conditions of global competition and the strategic priorities of our country, we have expanded the scope and scale of the supports we offer to qualified investments in the automotive industry. we enlarged it.
We brought together 6 projects with a total investment size of 57.4 billion lira in the automotive sector with suitable financing opportunities within the scope of the Investment Commitment Advance Loan Program, which supports our country's high technology and added value-oriented development goals. "With the calls for mobility and battery production of HIT-30, the largest-scale high-technology support program in our history, we offer comprehensive support to strategic investments that will accelerate the transformation of our industry."
" FOR THE FIRST TIME, AN INTERNATIONAL AUTOMOTIVE MANUFACTURER STARTS PRODUCTION OF FULL ELECTRIC PASSENGER VEHICLES IN OUR COUNTRY"
Minister Kacır stated that the basis of a successful industrial policy is to combine the right incentive and support tools with a strong vision that foresees the future, can read the change in a timely manner and directs the transformation, and said that they have witnessed a historical transformation in the global automotive industry, where an era ends and a new era opens.
Kacır pointed out that the decrease in battery costs and the rapid progress in autonomous driving technologies in connection with green transformation targets have redefined all links of the value chain in the automotive industry and increased the users' demand for electric and connected vehicles, and emphasized that, as a country that is assertive in technology development and production with the National Technology Move, they are determined to turn the developments in the global automotive industry into a window of opportunity for the Turkish automotive industry.
Kacır stated that, as one of the most concrete steps of this vision, they have implemented the domestic and national car Togg as an electric and smart mobility platform and said:
"We never saw Togg as a pure automobile project. We designed it as the critical link of the technology move that will lead to the formation of a holistic mobility ecosystem in our country, from battery technologies to software, from power electronics to charging infrastructure. Today, Togg is one of the strongest reflections of our will to preserve the competitiveness of our automotive industry, where thousands of workers work, to transform our sector with new generation technologies and to move Türkiye among the countries that have a say in the future of mobility.
Undoubtedly, the success of our new mobility vision is possible by spreading the transformation that started with Togg throughout our industry, that is, by expanding our production scale in electric vehicles and bringing new investments and technologies to our country. "For this reason, it is extremely valuable and important for our country that global automotive companies currently producing in Türkiye direct their new generation mobility investments to our country and renew their existing production capacities with electric and smart vehicle technologies."
Minister Kacır stated that Hyundai Turkey Izmit facilities, which have been in operation for nearly 30 years, have witnessed 13 different models coming off the line so far, as Hyundai's first and longest operating overseas production facility outside South Korea, and stated that Hyundai Türkiye, which has increased its production capacity from 50 thousand to 230 thousand annually since 2002 with the investment incentives they provide, will produce 30 thousand IONIQ3 per year in the first stage with an investment of 250 million Euros.
Stating that this investment has two important aspects that put Türkiye in an exceptional position in the new generation mobility journey, Kacır said, "First, for the first time, an international automotive manufacturer is starting to produce fully electric passenger vehicles in our country. The second is the battery investment of Hyundai MOBİS, which is complementary to the vehicle investment. Hyundai Türkiye's IONIQ 3 investment is proof that our new generation mobility vision has been met by global automotive manufacturers and that our country is positioned as a reliable and scalable production center. Türkiye is an electric vehicle production center." "This is a very important threshold that has been crossed in our goal of becoming a global production base in battery technologies." he said.
Kacır emphasized that Türkiye is one of the exceptional addresses where new generation mobility investments can be scaled, with its deep-rooted industrial accumulation, strong supply ecosystem, advanced logistics infrastructure and access to large markets, and noted that they offer investors unhindered access to a population of 1 billion with the Customs Union and signed free trade agreements.
"WE ARE ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT PLAYERS OF EUROPEAN VALUE CHAINS"
Underlining that Türkiye is one of the most important players in European value chains, Kacır said, "We have a large domestic market with an economy of 1.6 trillion dollars and a population of 86 million. In the last 23 years, we have created a transportation network that does not exist even in many developed countries today. We increased the number of vehicles on Türkiye's roads from 7 million 600 thousand to 33 million 600 thousand. We accelerated electrification in this field. Currently, the number of electric vehicles exceeds 450 thousand.
This year, the share of fully electric vehicles in our local market exceeded 17 percent. "By 2030, there will be more than 1.5 million electric vehicles on Türkiye's roads." he said.
Kacır stated that he believes that this investment will pave the way for new projects in the new generation mobility ecosystem and encourage new investment decisions, and that it will be instrumental in strengthening the deep-rooted friendship between Turkey and South Korea and crowning it with new partnerships, and said, "Our wish is for Hyundai's investment will to set an example for companies in South Korea.
Because there is still great potential in investment cooperation between the two countries that we can utilize together. "As Türkiye, we will continue to support all investors who invest, produce, develop technology, create qualified employment and take our country further in global value chains." he said.
Hyundai Motor Turkey CEO YongJin Alex Kim, Hyundai Motor Europe President and CEO Xavier Martinet, Kibar Holding Chairman Ali Kibar and South Korea's Ankara Ambassador Boo Sukjong also spoke at the ceremony.
Kocaeli Governor İlhami Aktaş, AK Party Kocaeli Deputy Mehmet Akif Yılmaz, New Party Kocaeli Deputy Nail Çiler, Kocaeli Metropolitan Municipality Deputy Mayor Berna Abiş, provincial representatives of political parties, Hyundai officials and employees attended the ceremony.
Minister Kacır came to the ceremony area with the Hyundai IONIQ 3, which will start mass production.
At the end of the ceremony, Minister Kacır, Governor Aktaş, YongJin Alex Kim, Xavier Martinet and Ali Kibar signed the hood of Hyundai IONIQ 3.
