A Türkiye Consultation Meeting on “Domestic Automotive and Production Technologies” was organized by the Automotive and Transport Vehicles Sector Board of the Independent Industrialists and Businessmen Association (MÜSİAD), hosted by the MÜSİAD Bursa Branch

A Türkiye Consultation Meeting on “Domestic Automotive and Production Technologies” was organized by the Automotive and Transport Vehicles Sector Board of the Independent Industrialists and Businessmen Association (MÜSİAD), hosted by the MÜSİAD Bursa Branch.

Deputy Minister of Industry and Technology Hasan Büyükdede, AK Party Bursa Deputy Atilla Ödünç, Bursa Metropolitan Municipality Deputy Mayor Süleyman Çelik, MÜSİAD Deputy President Dr. Ali Gür, MÜSİAD Bursa Branch President Nihat Alpay, BEBKA Secretary General İsmail Gerim and Provincial Director of Industry and Technology Latif Deniz attended the meeting, along with MÜSİAD presidents and vice presidents from the surrounding provinces, sector representatives and sector stakeholders.

“The Most Suitable Address Is Bursa”

Speaking at the opening of the program, Bursa Branch President Alpay said that Bursa holds an important position in the automotive sector with its infrastructure and accumulated knowledge, as it does in textiles, machinery and many other sectors. Alpay said, “Bursa has a mature workforce within the multidisciplinary production and working system of the automotive sector. That is why Bursa is at the same time an automotive city. It is the capital of the automotive sector in our country. Looking at it from this angle, it is also a candidate to be the city where the domestic automobile will be produced; perhaps the most suitable address is Bursa.”

“Bursa Has a Vast Accumulation”

Pointing out that Bursa is the heart of Turkish industry, MÜSİAD Deputy President Dr. Ali Gür said, “The stronger Bursa is, the more healthily Turkish industry grows. With its contributions to the development of the national economy, to providing foreign currency income through exports and to strengthening the industrial infrastructure, Bursa displays great dynamism in economic terms. When we look at the city's development over the past 15 years, we see a picture that makes us, as the business world, happy.”

Domestic Vehicle Efforts

Deputy Minister of Industry and Technology Hasan Büyükdede, for his part, stated that in recent years Türkiye has accelerated its market integration with the European Union.

Touching on the subject of the domestic vehicle, Büyükdede said: "Work is continuing rapidly; indeed, we also have companies that have developed several separate working prototypes. We have now begun producing our electric tractor and our construction machinery. On the other hand, as TÜBİTAK we have developed prototypes whose software and hardware belong to TÜBİTAK, and we are continuing to work on them. With this method we may perhaps make up in the automotive sector for the years we have lost, just as we did with our success in unmanned aerial vehicles."

Automotive Exports by Rail

Hasan Büyükdede stated that they are working on a joint project with 6 ministries.

Pointing out that products manufactured in Türkiye must be delivered to places of consumption as quickly as possible, Büyükdede said:

"At present, the most important customer group to which we supply sub-industry products is the EU. If we cannot deliver materials from here to the heart of Europe within 2-3 days, after a while those countries are establishing new accelerated facilities — in Hungary, currently in Romania, in Bulgaria, in Poland — and with these facilities and highly accelerated production techniques they become able to work with two days' stock right next door, without holding any stock themselves. Therefore, in an operation we are now carrying out as a ministry, for example, we are trying to transport truckloads of material from here for Renault's connection to Europe; we are trying to carry it by ship. It should not be like that; we need to bring it down to the heart of Europe by rail. That is why we now aim to improve the railway connection in Nilüfer and to carry vehicles from here to the heart of Europe by train. That is also why we have begun developing double-deck, vehicle-specific wagons at TÜLOMSAŞ."

Explaining that there is a great deal of demand in Bursa's production of industrial land, Büyükdede added that they are having difficulty producing space and that within this scope they have entered into a joint effort with the Ministry of Environment and Urbanization.