President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan received an update on the progress of Turkey’s first domestically-produced car. President of the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges (TOBB) Rıfat Hisarcıklıoğlu and CEO of the Joint Enterprise Group Mehmet Gürcan Karakaş shared the latest developments with Erdoğan.
Following Hisarcıklıoğlu and Karakaş’s presentation, Erdoğan expressed his gratitude to the firms and promised his "full support" for the venture.
"I will closely follow the developments," he added.
Erdoğan said he expected the prototype of the first domestically-produced car to be ready in 2019 and sales to start in 2021, and the firms stated that they would deliver on time.
The Joint Enterprise Group has formulated a long-term investment plan. The group previously announced a 15-year investment plan spanning three phases.
The Joint Enterprise Group – comprised of the Anadolu Group, BMC, Kök Group, Turkcell, and Zorlu Holding – reached a milestone on Nov. 2, 2017 as per the protocol signed under President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s leadership, the Ministry of Science, Industry and Technology and TOBB.
The company was named “Turkey's Automobile Initiative Group Industry and Trade Co.” Anadolu Group, BMC, Kök Group, Zorlu Holding and Turkcell's shares stand at 19 percent each, while TOBB has a five percent share.
One of the most successful Turkish executives in the global automotive world, Gürcan Karakaş, was appointed to lead the group. Having attained significant success in both Turkey and the international market, Karakaş, who assumed the position on Sept. 1, will lead the way to making Turkey’s Automobile one of the world's most important automotive companies.