Tag: automotive industry

  • Turkey wants bigger role in EV world

    Turkey wants bigger role in EV world

    By Danny King

    In the “You Gotta Start Somewhere” Department, Turkish government officials are vowing to fund the development of Turkish-made electric vehicles in order to increase regional competitiveness within the alt-fuel world, Hurriyet Daily News says.

    Turkey’s Science Ministry will buy 200 electric cars within the next five years and will “grant 100 percent in research and development support” for domestic EV makers. The Turkish government says the focus will be on urban EVs that may be used for public transportation, though didn’t divulge estimated investment figures or other details.

    Either way, the government is pushing for advanced-powertrain development in a Turkish auto industry dominated by four players: Toyota and partnerships that include Ford, Renault and Fiat. About 900,000 vehicles were produced in Turkey in 2009, and the country had a car-to-person ratio of about 1-to-10, according to a 2010 Deloitte report on the Turkish auto industry. That ratio compares to 1-to-2 in Germany and almost 1-to-1 in the US.

    News Source: Hurriyet Daily News

    Image Credit: Istanbul Convention & Visitors Bureau

    Category: EV/Plug-in, Legislation and Policy, Europe/EU, Asia

    Tags: electric vehicle, ev, science ministry, turkey, turkish

    via Turkey wants bigger role in EV world.

  • Kia Raises the Temperature at Istanbul Auto Show with Pro_Cee’d…and Irina Shayk

    Kia Raises the Temperature at Istanbul Auto Show with Pro_Cee’d…and Irina Shayk

    You would be forgiven for not noticing the 2013 Pro_Cee’d, or as Kia prefers to write it, ‘pro_cee’d’, squirreled behind the long legs of famous supermodel Irina Shayk.

    Kia Pro Cee d 5

    The heavenly proportioned Russian model, who obtained worldwide recognition among men of all ages for her 2007 through 2012 appearances in the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issues, was summoned by the Korean carmaker to promote the company’s new compact hatchback at this week’s 2012 Istanbul Auto Show.

    It was a nifty move on the behalf of Kia’s local division to draw some extra attention to the car, since the three-door version of the new Cee’d had already made its world premiere at the recent Paris Motor Show.

    We’re not going to fool ourselves into thinking that you would prefer to read all the details about the Turkish market specification of the Pro_Cee’d, so we will just stop here and let you enjoy Irina in the photo gallery (if any of our Turkish readers visited the presentation and would like to share their photos, you know where to send them…) and videos below.

    Photo Credits: Kia Turkey

    via Kia Raises the Temperature at Istanbul Auto Show with Pro_Cee’d…and Irina Shayk – Carscoop.

  • Indian automaker Mahindra & Mahindra interested in buying Saab

    Indian automaker Mahindra & Mahindra interested in buying Saab

    The news, reported by Bloomberg, indicates that Mahindra & Mahindra wants to talk with the Swedish bankruptcy court overseeing Saab’s bankruptcy proceedings. Meetings have not been setup and it seems that everyone close to Saab and Mahindra & Mahindra are being tight-lipped as the talks are private.

    Saab 1

    Mahindra & Mahindra, which is based in Mumbai, is interested in buying parts of Saab or possibly the whole company. The price or what technologies or parts are not known at this time.

    Mahindra & Mahindra has been on a buying spree of automakers over the past few years. Earlier this year it bought a 70 percent stake in a Korean automaker, Ssangyong Motor Company, for about $368 million. It also recently bought Reva Electric Car Company, another Indian automaker, from Renault. It seems the company wants to broaden its lineup and become a global automotive player with all these acquisitions, and the potential investment in Saab.

    This writer reported Saab filed for bankruptcy on December 19th, 2011. It seemed for a time they would be able to avoid bankruptcy as a Chinese bank and a car company were going to give Saab a large cash infusion. GM blocked the deal at the last minute, since they still had rights over technologies Saab owned, forcing Saab into bankruptcy. (Read my editorial “GM gets Bailout, Why not Saab?”)

    It seem Saab now has a chance to emerge from bankruptcy, with not only Mahindra & Mahindra showing an interest in Saab, but also a Turkish automaker.

    The Turkish government is eager for Turkey to have a car brand of its own. They want to at least take over parts of Saab and interested in investing into the company.

    Victor Muller, CEO of Swedish Automobile NV which owns Saab, confirmed that several companies are pursing investing in Saab.

    So goes the ebb and flow of the global automotive market. One company falls and another will likely rise from it ashes. Saab seems to have a second chance, with some interesting investors. I wonder what future Saab cars or dealerships will sell?

    Please contact Adam Yamada-Hanff – adamsautoadvice@gmail.com – for comments, questions, or topics. You can also follow him on Twitter @AdamsAutoAdvice

    via Indian automaker Mahindra & Mahindra interested in buying Saab.

  • Electric car batteries to be produced in Turkey thanks to R&D investments

    Electric car batteries to be produced in Turkey thanks to R&D investments

    Research and development (R&D) investments in the auto sector seem to have gained momentum in Turkey with the private operators in its support sector recently announcing new investment plans.

    electric car

    Yiğit Akü, one of the leading battery companies in Turkey, on Friday announced that the company is investing $1 million in R&D to develop electric car batteries, which it is planning to produce in coming years.

    This is news for Turkey as the battery company is set to produce lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries used in the electric cars and Yiğit Akü is planning to take leadership in Europe in the production of such batteries in the coming years.

    Just as Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has been promoting during his election campaign, Turkey is planning to produce its own domestic car brand soon. R&D activities are seen as being at the heart of such an ambitious goal as they will provide the necessary technology to make it possible to produce all required parts domestically and also have a competitive advantage in the sector in order to compete globally.

    The most important aspects of producing a domestic car brand should be one that it can compete internationally. Taking into consideration unstable energy prices in the world market, concerns about the scarcity of oil reserves and global warming, the idea of producing alternative-energy cars has gained importance. The electric car emerged among other types as a candidate to satisfactorily address all of those concerns.

    With such R&D investment plans coming from the private sector in the industry, producing a domestic car brand now seems more possible than before.

    According to a statement released by Yiğit Akü, following a one-year feasibility study, a R&D laboratory configuration has been completed where studies on Li-ion batteries are ready to be launched. The statement also notes that the laboratory that, which will be home to 66 scientists, is a first in its field in Turkey.

    Yiğit Akü General Manager Hulki Büyükkalender states that the company has raised the bar in the automotive sector with this investment as R&D activities are crucial for the industry. He also emphasizes that for years in Turkey, the share of R&D activities were less than a percentage of the national income, adding, “Yiğit Akü has increased the resources allocated to R&D activities from our budget each year. The portion of our turnover that went to R&D in 2008 was 2 percent, while the same figure was only 0.5 percent in 2002. In 2011 we will fund R&D at 4 percent of our turnover.”

    This is good news for the auto sector because ever since Erdoğan made public his wish to see firms in Turkey produce a domestic car brand the debates has intensified around whether Turkey has the necessary technology, especially when it comes to producing an electric car.

    Foreign Trade Minister Zafer Çağlayan informed the media when those debates were still fresh that the due to a lack of required technology, each battery necessary to produce an electric car would cost 10,000 euros to import. “This is almost the cost of buying a new car, and what interests me is the share of domestic contribution in producing such a car,” Çağlayan noted at the time.

    According to an earlier study reported in Today’s Zaman, R&D investments are at the heart of the action plan to produce a national auto brand in Turkey, which was announced by Industry and Trade Minister Nihat Ergün in April.

    On Friday, Association of Automotive Parts and Components Manufacturers (TAYSAD) President Celal Kaya said that they will intensify their quest to increase the number of R&D centers in the sector and aim to have 50 such centers by 2012.

    Mentioning the rapidly growing Turkish automotive industry, the TAYSAD head underlined that the supply industry plays a critical role in this growth and that they will need the support of the government to expand further. Kaya said there are 5,000 engineers working in R&D centers in Turkey to develop better technologies for the auto industry and that this number should be increased.

    The government in Turkey and the private sector in the automotive field both have been increasingly engaging in R&D debates emphasizing the importance of the latter for the sector. This, in turn, seems to be providing moral support to the sector as Büyükkalender notes that his company aims to take electric car battery production to another level in Turkey, as their goal is to be the leader in Li-ion battery production in Europe.

    via Electric car batteries to be produced in Turkey thanks to R&D investments.