Turkey to become a top auto maker, says Erdoğan

Turkey will become the largest center for production of electric vehicles in the next decade, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has said.

Erdoğan said on March 16 at the Ford Otosan Future Vision meeting held at the Presidential Complex that the government was also determined to turn Turkey into a production center for electric vehicle batteries.

Noting that the country's first its indigenous electric car will be rolled out at the end of 2022, Erdoğan said: "Our target is to make Turkey the top player in Europe and one of the top five countries in the world in manufacturing electric cars in the next 10 years."

The president said the economic reforms in process "are creating an attractive environment, eliminating any distinction between local and international companies."

"We are providing all kinds of incentives to companies businesses to make the private sector the engine of the country's development," Erdoğan added. "We have also facilitated partnerships between companies through business forums."

Turkey's battery production capacity will expand by 130,000 units with the new investment of Ford Otosan, a joint venture of Turkish Koç Holding and Ford , the president also said.

Staying on top as Turkey's leading export sector, the automotive industry's exports in 2020 exceeded $25 billion amid pandemic, Erdoğan noted.

Turkey exported more than 900,000 vehicles to 180 countries across five continents last year, Erdoğan said, adding: "This momentum we achieved in 2020 enabled us to make a strong start to 2021."

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