The Istanbul Chamber of Industry (ISO) and the Bursa Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BTSO) turn Bursa into the center of domestic car production. The protocol requires the integration of key industries and sub-industries from Istanbul, Kocaeli and Sakarya into a domestic car production center which will be established in Bursa. The agreement is the first in a series of groundbreaking efforts to turn the Marmara Region into a high-technology and innovative production center. The protocol will make the region an industrial basin and position Bursa as the center of domestic car production.
BTSO Chairman İbrahim Burkay said that both chambers aim to take the economic power of the Marmara Region one step further with the agreement. Describing the accord as a bold and major step on Turkey's path to producing its own domestic car, Burkay said the business community in Bursa is eager to produce the country's first national car brand.
According to Burkay, the strategies adopted by the San Francisco basin and the Baden Württemberg region, which steer U.S. and German economies, should also be realized in the Marmara basin, which includes production centers such as Istanbul, Kocaeli and Bursa to a large extent. He added that Turkey can achieve its objectives for 2023 by restructuring these key industrial cities. "This region, which meets 60 percent of Turkey's high-technology exports and 80 percent of Turkey's medium-technology exports, will be the center for the production of wealth," he said.
ISO chairman, Erdal Bahçıva, said the two chambers have turned joint work into a concrete product, and described the cooperation protocol as a groundbreaking practice. Stressing that Bursa is the second-largest city in the Marmara Region after Istanbul, in terms of its commercial potential, Bahçıvan added that Istanbul plays a critical role in the transformation experienced in the economy. Bahçıvan said the Marmara Region should be addressed as an industrial basin with a holistic approach, noting that: "Thanks to their advanced industrial infrastructures, Istanbul and Bursa will have a special position [in Turkey]. Such cooperation between the two cities, which stand out [among other cities for] their industrial performance, has the potential to positively affect other cities in the region, particularly Kocaeli, and to encourage them to form synergies."
According to Bahçıvan's statements, Bursa is the third largest city in Turkey after Istanbul and İzmir, in terms of the number of businesses and the number of people employed there. Bursa is the fourth-largest city in terms of its added-value contribution to the economy. Additionally, it makes up 5 percent of Turkey's job market. Expressing that the Marmara region is an "exclusive" region in terms of Turkey's potential to develop qualified workforce and high added-value, Bahçıvan said there are 49 universities and five technology development centers in Istanbul alone. "When we consider that there are four universities located in Bursa and six universities and other technology development centers in the surrounding cities, we find an opportunity for great synergy. It is our primary target to seize this opportunity," he said.
Turkey's first domestic cars will go on sale in 2020, according to the country's industry minister, who announced that three prototypes were ready in October, with a local content ratio of at least 90 percent. Prototypes have been displayed under camouflage and will not be seen until 2018. In October, Science, Industry and Technology Minister Işık said that the project includes two major steps. One is an automotive excellence center to be established on the Gebze campus of TÜBİTAK in 2016 to accumulate knowledge and experience in the industry. The second will establish an engine excellence center to help Turkey develop engines used in construction machines, tractors, generators, trucks and forklifts. The project will be put into operation in 2016. The ministry is focusing on a car model that has an extended range and operates on electricity. The model has a 15 kilowatt-hour battery (kWh), which allows a car to go 100 kilometers at a monthly cost of around TL 60 ($20), and a small generator that runs on fossil fuels and generates electricity when the battery is about to die during long-distance drives. The generator strengthens the engine while charging the battery.
