By NEWS DESK
Ford Otosan announced yesterday that it will produce electric commercial vehicles for Volkswagen as part of its new investment of EUR 2bn it announced last December. The fully electric new generation Transit Custom model and Volkswagen’s new 1-ton commercial vehicle will be produced at Golcuk facilities with an investment of EUR 1.4bn. Ford Otosan’s 1-ton medium commercial vehicle capacity is planned to be increased up to 405,000 units with the investment. Remainder EUR 600m will be used for the battery facility announced previously.
These investments will enable the Turkish automotive industry to develop with electric and connected vehicles, a great vision that will spread over 10 years, said President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, at the meeting where the details of the investment were announced.
Collaboration was announced last year
Volkswagen and Ford’s global executives announced last year with a joint press statement that they will collaborate in commercial vehicle manufacturing. Vice Chairman of Koc Holding and Chairman of Ford Otosan Ali Y. Koc, on the other hand, announced that they will make the biggest investment of the Turkish automotive industry with an amount of EUR 2bn, at the Future Vision Meeting of Ford Otosan in December.
“Making the biggest automotive investment in our history in an environment of uncertainty created by the pandemic and when everyone is avoiding investment, is the greatest proof our group’s and partner’s belief in Turkey,” Ali Koc, Deputy Chairman of Koc Holding and Board of Directors and Chairman of Ford Otosan, said.
Will create 18,000 new jobs
Within the scope of the investment, the commercial vehicle production capacity in Kocaeli plants, most of which is for export, will increase to 650,000. Battery installation capacity will also reach to 130,000. The direct employment of more than 12,000 by Ford Otosan will increase to 15,000. With an estimated 3,000 additional employment in the supplier industry, a total of 18,000 new jobs will be created.
Electric commercial production base
When the investment is completed, Turkey’s importance in the production of electric commercial vehicles will increase and Ford will transform into electric commercial vehicle production base. Ford Otosan Kocaeli plants will initially mass-produce Ford’s first fully electric commercial vehicle E-Transit for Europe by 2022 and supply its batteries in Kocaeli. Thus, Turkey’s first and only electric vehicles integrated production facility will be built in Kocaeli.
As of the first half of 2023, Ford Otosan will start to produce the first fully electric version of the “Next Generation Transit Custom” family with diesel and rechargeable, hybrid electric PHEV (Plug-In Hybrid) versions. Under the strategic partnership of Ford and Volkswagen, the new generation Volkswagen 1-ton commercial vehicle model will also be produced by Ford Otosan in Kocaeli.
