Turkish Automotive Trade Continues to Drive Turkey’s Economic SuccessTop Influencers Gather at AutoTurkey 2011, 26 -27 October 2011, Istanbul

Whilst the rest of Europe may be concerned with the threat of another financial crisis, the gateway to Asia continues to announce positive economic results.

And as the leading contributor to Turkey’s export, good news continues to filter out of the booming automotive sector.  The unexpected announcement of a 30% year on year increase for automotive sales in August, despite being during the slow summer period has lead many experts in the Turkish automotive industry to believe this trend is only set to continue into 2012.  Major manufacturers such as Peugeot are forecasting 1 million sales by the year end, indicating encouraging signs for the government’s ambitious 2023 targets.

The Turkish government has long promoted the automotive sector as a vital source of national revenue in the quest to meet the 2023 economic objectives; setting lofty targets to match.  Building on the consistently steady increase in output of major economic and employment heavyweights such as Ford Otosan and Toyota Motor Manufacture Turkey; the Government’s new Economic Minister and long time champion of Turkish manufacture, Zafer Caglayan has urged more brands to bring further production to the Marmara hub and continues to emphasize the industries importance.

The long term goal is for the Turkish automotive industry to establish its own passenger vehicle brand; recognisable worldwide and serious steps have been taken towards this equally optimistic aim.  This is likely to require more than the engineering might and production efficiency currently evident.  Significant steps in developing international partners, innovation marketing and design are now crucial to gain recognition of an independent brand before Asian manufacturers step into the remaining market gaps.

Many see the true potential resting in the growing electric vehicle market, but Turkey’s current level of infrastructure, and interest, within its borders may dent any plans to produce EVs for export.  Members of the upcoming Turkish automotive conference, AutoTurkey 2011 have singled out discussion of this issue as vital to the industries development and will be reviewed in detail by a senior industry panel, including Renault and Inci Aku.

All eyes will be on Istanbul this October, as Europe’s automotive manufacturing giants gather for the inaugural AutoTurkey event at the Divan Asia Hotel on 26-27 October 2011.  The event has attracted high profile names from the countries largest industry and interest has spread across Europe as the growth in output and export continues.

This year, leading manufacturers such as Ford Otosan, TOFAS and Mercedes Benz Turk announced further increase in sales and profit in the opening quarters and will be outlining future plans on stage at AutoTurkey in October. 

The conference has been fully endorsed by membership associations TAYSAD (Association of Automotive Parts and Components Manufacturers) and OSD (Automotive Manufacturers Association) as the forum seeks to develop internal and international relationships to prolong this period of rapid growth.  “Short term target of Turkish Automotive Sector is producing 2 million of vehicles per year. Today we are producing 1.2 million of vehicles. We will almost double the capacity” AutoTurkey Chair and General Secretary of TAYSAD, Ozlem Gülsen Arkan explains. “It means we need new investments, new projects, new HR, it means this sector will continue to grow.”

Gülsen also highlights how domestic wealth has reached a tipping point indicating a potential boom in drivers amongst the 70 million strong populations.  “Not only production but our domestic sales volume is also increasing. More than 800 thousand vehicles will be sold this year. We have a demand which is increasing each year.”

Continued investments in essential research and engineering institutions is allowing strong national workforce to develop innovative products and compete as a global player in the struggling automotive industry. “Turkish suppliers are more and more competitive, they offer best quality; just in time deliveries and superior R&D capability to their global customers”, the TAYSAD General Secretary now points to the next stage in developing a global import and export network for cross industry benefit and will address the solutions her organisation’s members are seeking at the upcoming forum.  “AutoTurkey conference is important because they offer a very effective and international platform to the attendees...”

The three agenda includes the option of VIP guided of Ford Otosan Kocaeli and Toyota Motor Manufacturing Turkey, plants and specialist sessions focussed on Supplier localisation, electric vehicles, distribution channels and R&D.  The speaker line up has now been announced, and this new Turkish automotive conference has already attracted over 200 of the countries top automotive industry stakeholders.  Confirmed speakers include:

Orhan Ozer, President & CEO, Toyota Motor Manufacturing Turkey
Wolf-Dieter Kurz, CEO & President, Mercedes-Benz Türk A.S
Munur Yavuz, CEO, MAN Turkey
Nuri Otay, General Manager, Ford Otosan
Murat Mermer, CEO Chery-Mermerler
Altan Aytac, Supply Chain Director, TOFAS
Ismail Sumer, Factory Director & Board Member, Honda Turkiye
Hakan Tandogdu, Chief of External Relations Department, Oyak Renault
Huseyin Ceyhan, General Manager, Research and Development, TEMSA Global
Güven Özyurt, Ass. General Manager, Material Planning & Logistics, Ford Otosan
Eşref Mermer, Manager International Purchasing Southeast Europe, BMW
Wim Wuyts, Manager Purchasing & Supplier Quality Southeast Europe, GM Europe
Ümit Cevik, Electric Vehicle Project Coordinator, Renault Mais
Ilkim Sancaktar, Deputy Director, Nissan Turkey
Torben Eckardt, President, Istanbul Regional Office, Volvo
Steven Young, General Manager, Bosch San ve Tic AŞ
Karlheinz Dietz, Director Customer & Supplier Logistics, Logistics Automotive Continental
Omer Burhanoglu, CEO, Farplas
Zafer Kabatepe, Purchasing & Logistics Director, Orhan Holding
Murat Baysan, General Manager, Johnson Controls Automotive
Nuri Unver, General Manager, Tırsan Kırdan
Patrice Colomb, Managing Director, Autoliv Turkey
Cagatay Dundar, Logistics Manager, Autoliv Turkey
Baris Dogan, Supply Chain Manager Avon Automotive
Dr Ercan Tezer, General Secretary, OSD
Ozlem Gülşen Arkan, General Secretary, TAYSAD
Tamer Atsan, General Secretary, OYDER (Authorized Automotive Dealers Association)
Professor Kadir Aydın, Head of Automotive Engineering Department, Çukurova University
Prof. Dr. Ali G. Göktan, Chairman, OTAM & Istanbul Technical University
Prof. Cem Soruşbay, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Automotive Laboratory, Istanbul Technical University
Resan Yuner, Applications Country Director - TCA, Oracle
Hakki Tas, General Manager, Gemport
Fulvio Villa, General Manager, GEFCO Turkey
Başak Tav, Marketing Director, Erdemir
Goksel Paker, CEO ad Board Member, Inci Aku
Suat Güven, General Manager, Atlas Copco
Jens Möller, Senior Vice President, UTi Worldwide
Jochen Freese, Executive Vice President, Automotive, UTi Worldwide

For more information please contact:
Email: autoturkey@wbr.co.uk
Tel: +44 (0) 207 368 9465
Visit: www.autoturkey.tk 

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