Turkey
Turkey’s geographic location at the crossroads of Europe and Asia and Turkey’s Customs Union agreement with the EU make it an ideal hub to penetrate markets in Central Asia, the CIS and the Caucasus for automotive manufacturers. The automotive sector plays an important role in the manufacturing sector of the Turkish economy. Turkey is the 15th largest Automotive manufacturer in the world and 5th largest in Europe. The automotive industry employs more than 500,000 people, and it is the production, export, and engineering hub of global brands for international markets.
Most international vehicle producers manufacture in Turkey. Currently, there are 16 automotive manufacturing companies; including foreign investors such as Ford, Fiat, Honda, Hyundai, Renault and Toyota, Mercedes-Benz and M.A.N, manufacturing various types of vehicles, through joint venture partnerships with local firms, direct investment, or license agreements. In addition, Turkey’s Automobile Joint Venture Group (TOGG), is seeking to become the first Turkish automaker. TOGG plans to launch an electric C- segment SUV by the end of 2022. The construction of TOGG’s facility started in 2020 and it is expected to be completed in 2021. The factory is expected to have the capacity to produce up to 175,000 vehicles per year. The facility will include R&D centers and a customer experience park. In addition, according to the latest announcement of TOGG, battery cells will be provided by Farasis and the battery modules and packs will be jointly developed and produced in Turkey. The company is expected to employ more than 4,000 staff.
Given Turkey’s increasing population – now over 80 million – and inward migration to larger cities from rural areas, traffic has become a crucial issue, compelling local municipalities to invest heavily in Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS). As a result, Turkey has doubled its transportation industry investment budget from 20% to 40% and invested more than $60 billion over the last decade. This sector is dependent on critical foreign technologies such as ITS, thus providing opportunities for U.S. firms. Some of the implementations of ITS in metropolitan areas are the following: speed detection systems, red light violation detection, bus route control, traffic density tracking, automatic license plate recognition and scanning systems, passenger information systems, electronic payment systems, smart intersections, smart stop, and smart parking.
Some major metropolitan cities have invested in mobile software to support ITS. These include the EGO Cepte application of the Ankara Metropolitan Municipality, the IMM CepTrafik and MOBİETT applications of the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality, Mobile Application of the Izmir Metropolitan Municipality, and BURULAŞ application of the Bursa Metropolitan Municipality.
Summary
I - 154 - I