Speaking at the "TOFAŞ K9 Project Production Start Ceremony" held at the TOFAŞ Factory in Bursa, Kacır wished that the project, which was implemented in Bursa, the heart of the country's industry, with a total investment of 300 million dollars, in cooperation with Koç Group and Stellantis, would be beneficial to the automotive industry, the country and the nation.
Kacır emphasized that industrialization based on competitive production capability, the ability to develop unique technologies and trained human resources is the strongest guarantee of a country's development.
Stating that many countries have started to take new steps to develop their industrial infrastructures, gain competence in critical technologies and maintain their competitive advantages in production, Kacır said:
"We have strongly prepared our country for the storms in the global economy with the political and economic stability we established under the leadership of our President, Mr. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, our planned industrialization model, our policies prioritizing R&D and high value-added production, and our investments in qualified human resources. We increased our manufacturing industry added value from 41 billion dollars to over 250 billion dollars, doubling our share in the world."
Kacır emphasized that they have made Türkiye the production base of Europe and the world in many sectors and said, "With the new trade bridges we have established all over the world, from Europe to Africa, the Middle East, Asia and America, and the export markets we have diversified, we have increased our annual product exports, which were 36 billion dollars in 2002, to 283 billion dollars. Today, Turkey is the leading country in terms of product and market diversity in the wide belt extending from China to Central Europe." is an exporter." he said.
"OUR INDUSTRY ACHIEVES NEW SUCCESSES EVERY YEAR"
Stating that the automotive industry has an exceptional place in the journey to a more prosperous and stronger Turkey, where they focus on investment, employment, production and exports, Kacır said, "Our automotive industry continues to be the pride of the Turkish industry with the added value it creates both in the main industry and the supply chain, the qualified employment it provides and the export volume it reaches. Our sector achieves new successes every year with the common determination and effort of our workers and entrepreneurs who believe and trust in Türkiye." he said.
Kacır stated that it is a matter of pride for the Turkish automotive industry that it renewed the previous year's record by achieving 41.5 billion dollars of exports last year and that new examples of success of joint efforts are revealed every year.
Explaining that, as the Ministry of Industry and Technology, they have implemented practices that will increase the production capacity of the sector and support the technology development ability, Kacır said, "As a matter of fact, in the last 23 years, we have supported 3 thousand 857 projects of automotive main and sub-industry companies with a total investment size of 1 trillion 600 billion liras with our investment incentives." he said.
Kacır reminded that they included 7 projects with a total investment size of 61.6 billion lira carried out by automotive industry players in the Investment Commitment Advance Loan Programs, which provide financing under favorable conditions, in the studies they consider valuable for the National Technology Move, and continued as follows:
"With the help of TÜBİTAK, we have provided 34 billion liras in resources to 3,278 projects carried out in automotive technologies and to 3,439 scientists and young people conducting research in this field in the last 23 years. Our desire is to carry the Turkish automotive industry to the top league in the global arena with the technologies it develops, engineering competencies and the high added value it creates. One of our most important competitive advantages while pursuing this goal is the commercial vehicle production in which we are the leader in Europe."
K9 PROJECT WILL PROVIDE NEW EMPLOYMENT FOR 1000 PEOPLE
Emphasizing that TOFAŞ's facilities are the address of firsts and important milestones of the Turkish automotive industry, Kacır said:
"The legendary Murat 124 model, which started production in 1971, was the turning point of modern automobile production with sheet metal bodies in Türkiye. It paved the way for wide masses to have access to automobiles. The efforts of Tofaş engineers and "With the support of TÜBİTAK, engineering development processes were completely provided here at TOFAŞ R&D Center, which was a great gain for our automotive industry."
Kacır stated that TOFAŞ, which is among the leading companies of the industry with nearly 5 thousand employees and an annual production capacity of 500 thousand vehicles, has gained a special place in the memory and hearts of the nation with its models whose names have become symbols over time, and said, "The K9 Project, which has been implemented with an investment of 300 million dollars, opens the doors of a new era in TOFAŞ's production journey. With this project, which benefits from TOFAŞ's R&D experience at a high level, it is under the umbrella of Stellantis." "The brands' light commercial vehicles and Combi versions for passenger transportation come to life on the production lines in Bursa." he said.
Kacır stated that Doblo, which started its production journey in Bursa in 2000, has now returned to the land of its birth with a more modern, stronger and more competitive identity, together with the other models of the Stellantis family, and continued his words as follows:
"The K9 Project will provide TOFAŞ with an additional production capacity of 100 thousand vehicles per year, while hopefully providing new employment for 1000 of our colleagues. It will contribute to the development of our automotive industry by creating new job opportunities for nearly 100 local supplier companies participating in the production process. The production line established in accordance with the multi-energy platform within the scope of the project will give TOFAŞ production flexibility. I hope it will pave the way for the production of electric light commercial vehicles in Bursa in the future."
Underlining that the investment gains realized here will be the starting point for larger goals, Kacır said:
"We are determined to turn the developments in the global automotive industry, which has changed its mind, into an opportunity for the Turkish automotive industry. Our country has the ambition, will and ability to shape the future of the global automotive industry, thanks to its R&D and innovation infrastructure, deep-rooted industrial knowledge and strong production capacity, which it has built almost from scratch in the last 23 years. See, we have made our nation's 60-year-old national car dream come true with our electric and smart car Togg, which is the concrete example of our new generation industrial policy. There are currently global automotive companies producing in our country." "It develops its production infrastructures with electric and hybrid vehicle technologies and realizes its investments in the production of new generation models in our country."
"IN Türkiye, WHERE 300 THOUSAND VEHICLES WERE SOLD, NOW 1.5 MILLION VEHICLES CAN BE SOLD A YEAR"
Emphasizing that approximately 60 percent of the international direct investments directed to the country since 2002 have come from the European Union, Kacır said, "Last year, 1.5 million motor vehicles were produced in our country. Nearly 80 percent of these vehicles came off the production lines of the facilities operating with direct investments or local partnerships of the leading automotive manufacturers of the European Union. We realize 64 percent of the exports of our automotive sub-industry to European Union countries. 100 percent of our automotive parts and parts imports "We provide 56 of them from the European Union." made his assessment.
Minister Kacır emphasized that Türkiye is the only country that will offer the competitiveness and economic dynamism that the European Union needs, with its deep-rooted industrial accumulation, qualified human resources and production infrastructure integrated with the European economy.
"Europe's need in the race with its global rivals is to create economies of scale." Minister Kacır said, "The way to achieve this is to increase cooperation with Turkey, which has a population of 86 million and is growing rapidly. It is worth remembering that while the European economy has grown only 1.4 percent per year since 2002, our Turkey has grown 5.3 percent. In Türkiye, where only 300 thousand vehicles were sold annually in the early 2000s, 1.5 million vehicles can now be sold annually." he said.
"WE WILL FURTHER INCREASE OUR R&D EXPENDITURES"
Kacır concluded his speech by emphasizing that they will continue to support the entrepreneurs who invest, provide employment, produce and export in Türkiye in any case:
"We will further increase our R&D expenditures, which we have increased 17-fold in 23 years. We will continue to prepare the Turkish automotive industry for electric vehicles, driverless vehicles and sharing economy revolutions. While the share of traditional components in added value is decreasing, we will offer strong incentives to investments that will increase the added value of our sector, with the awareness that the shares of elements such as autonomous and electric vehicle components, artificial intelligence, data connection services and software are increasing. We will accelerate the green transformation, reduce emissions while rejuvenating the age of our vehicle fleet. With the measures we will take, we will reduce production and our fleet." "We will grow it even further and ensure that our market exceeds 2 million annually."
