New Phase in Automotive Test Center Project

Science, Industry and Technology Minister Faruk Özlü stated that the Ministry of Development is involved in the Automotive Test Centre Project being conducted by the Turkish Standards Institute, and that they want to include the Defence Industry Directorate in the project to make it broader and more comprehensive. At the signature ceremony held on 2 November 2017, Özlü recalled that President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım, ministers and a consortium group of 5 companies that set out to produce the country's first domestic brand automobile came together. Pointing out that the project in question has a history, Özlü spoke as follows: "I have been in office for approximately 18 months and during this 18-month period we worked on how to create such a national consortium in Turkey. Our TOBB President made contributions. One of these 5 companies is from Bursa, the others are very respected and large companies in Turkey. These companies also have exports, that is, they export abroad and have investments abroad. Among them are our companies operating in communications, automotive industry, electronics and white goods. 2 November 2017 has passed and today is 2 December 2017. So one month has passed. Today we will also sign for the Automotive Test Centre here." Explaining that the Automotive Test Centre Project was a work they had discussed at length but had made little progress on, Özlü said, "Hüseyin Şahin (AK Party Bursa Member of Parliament) would constantly ask me about it. We work together in Parliament. Also, our friends from Yenişehir came to visit. We always told them that we would follow this project closely and implement it, but now actually in line with the schedule of the domestic brand automobile project, what is the schedule there? 24+24. That is, the first 24 months is the design phase, the second 24 months is the serial production phase. We will implement the test centre in line with the project schedule." he said. Emphasizing that the timeline for the Automotive Test Centre coming to life is concurrent with the timeline of Turkey's Automobile Project, Özlü said: "Because it is not enough to just design and produce. You need to test, approve and evaluate it. Therefore, the centre we will establish here, the Automotive Test Centre or land vehicles test centre, is extremely important. If we are going to make a domestic brand automobile, we definitely need a test centre. This test centre we will sign today here will meet that need." he said.

"We will also build automobile factories in other countries" Saying "We will not only make automobiles for Turkey," Minister Özlü noted the following:

We will make this automobile for the world. We will sell this automobile to the entire world. We are not only targeting the domestic market. Already today, 80 percent of automobiles produced in Turkey are exported. Therefore, the domestic brand automobile, Turkey's automobile, will be among the products that Turkey will export. God willing, we will also build automobile factories in other countries in the future, like other countries. There is very serious infrastructure in the automotive sector in Turkey. The primary industry and supplier industry that has developed over the last 50-60 years, design engineers, production engineers. We have no technical problems. We want to create a brand that is unique to Turkey, specific to Turkey. Just as when Germany and Japan are mentioned a few brands come to mind, when Turkey is mentioned we will, God willing, create such a brand that when Turkey is mentioned, there will be a brand that comes to mind together with the name of Turkey. Vice Prime Minister Çavuşoğlu and Minister Özlü subsequently signed the protocol.