The Turkish Components Sphere

A critical sector for Turkey, the automotive components ecosystem is well poised.

- Deepti Thore and Ashish Bhatia

The growth of the Turkish automotive industry can be attributed to the developments that took place in the 1950s when the first Turkish automotive products were produced in 1954. Like most markets where the roots of the automotive industry are known to have been sown by their exposure to defence applications, the production of army jeeps from Willys Overland Ltd. is known to have set the ball rolling for Turkey’s automotive industry especially the components manufacturers. This investment was followed by key developments including the truck factory of Türk Otomotiv Endüstrisi A.S. in 1955, the second and third truck factories of Otosan and Çiftçiler A.S., and Istanbul Bus Karöseri Sanayi A.S. production of the Magirus buses, in 1963. The bus production was followed by the production of the first Turkish car at the Eskisehir State Railways Factory in 1961. Aptly named as the ‘Revolution’, it was limited to the production of four prototypes. Albeit with a production demand of an estimated 5000 units. The low demand, in turn, translated to Turkey finding it tough to attain the desired levels of economies of scale and hence breakevens. The challenge was addressed only half a decade later, in 1966, with the production of the Anadol car which helped the industry move towards healthier production scales.