Automotive Exports March 2021

Incentive for
Ford Otosan’s
new-generation
vehicle, battery
production
Ford Otosan’s new-generation commercial
vehicle and battery assembly factory
investment in Turkey’s industrial Kocaeli
province will benefit from project-based
government incentives, the Official Gazette
showed.
To be made through a fixed investment
worth around TL 20.5 billion ($2.6 billion),
the investment will span six years, the
statement said.
Once completed, the joint venture of Koç
Holding, Turkey’s largest conglomerate,
and U.S. automotive giant Ford is expected
to produce 210,000 new-generation
commercial vehicles and 130,000 batteries
per year.
The investment is said to provide 3,000
additional jobs, and the number of
qualified personnel is projected to be 200.
The Industry and Technology Ministry will
be able to provide an additional period
of half of the initial period in case the
investment is not realized within the
prescribed period.
The investment project will be able to
benefit from support such as customs
duty exemption, value-added tax (VAT)
exemption, VAT refund, tax deduction, 10-
year insurance premium employer share
support without the maximum amount
limit, 10-year income tax withholding
support, a maximum of TL 250 million of
qualified personnel support and allocation
of investment ground.
In a separate statement, Ford Otosan said
the investment is aimed at implementing
the new generation of electric and
linked commercial vehicle projects and
developing automation and modernization
of the company’s production facilities.
Based on Ford’s continued commercial
vehicle market leadership in Europe and
increasing market share success, the
company said it anticipates increasing its
installed capacity to meet growing demand
in the commercial vehicle market.
The carmaker announced it has initiated
works to establish the battery assembly
plant for electric vehicles in Kocaeli.
The Kocaeli facility, located in the Gölcük
distirict, is the largest commercial vehicle
production hub for Ford in Europe.
The firm, with its other plants in Kocaeli,
will have the first integrated electric vehicle
production facility in the country, Haydar
Yenigün, the general manager, said. The
battery assembly factory is planned to
be operational by 2022. Previously, the
firm produced Turkey’s first plug-in hybrid
commercial vehicle – Transit Custom
Plug-In Hybrid – and was recently assigned
responsibility to manufacture E-Transit,
Ford’s first all-electric commercial van.
Ford said the E-Transit will deliver up to a
range of 350-kilometer (217 miles) with
a 67 kilowatt-hour, 400-volt lithium-ion
battery pack.
The vehicle will be produced for North
American customers at the Kansas City
Assembly Plant in Claycomo, Missouri, in
the U.S.
E-Transit, expected to be available for
European customers in early 2022, is part
of Ford’s more than $11.5 billion global
investment in electrification through 2022.
Ford Otosan supplies the European market
with Transit family light commercial
vehicles. Yenigün also said Ford Otosan is
one of the largest investors in the country
with 2.5 billion euros (around $3.08 billion)
in investments, of which 56 million euros
was in electric car production, in the last
decade.
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