President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan inaugurated Ford Otosan's Yeniköy Plant in Kocaeli, following the redesigning and modernization process that began in 2021.
“Türkiye is determined to preserve its production and export potential, which we have obtained by swiftly adapting to the technology transformations in the automotive production market. We attach the utmost importance to investments that will enable us to have a say in the exponentially growing electric and hybrid vehicle production," President Erdoğan said during his address.
Wishing the plant to be beneficial for the company, the city, and the Turkish economy, President Erdoğan said, “With the interest triggered by the Togg hitting the road, Türkiye is marching on the path to having a rapidly developing electric vehicle market. Our aim is to make our county a global leader in electric vehicle and battery production. Türkiye, a country with a production capacity of 70 gigabytes per hour in electric vehicle batteries, is determined to become the battery production hub of Europe in 2030 at the latest."
President Erdoğan congratulated Ford Otosan on retaining its title as the automotive industry's export champion with a total export figure of USD 6.2 billion last year, adding, “Our rise to the 13th place from the 15th place in production in five years shows that we are on the right track. What is more, we have achieved this despite successive global crises. Last year, our automobile exports had a foreign trade surplus of over USD 9 million."
The Kocaeli plant became operational in 2014 and underwent capacity growth in 2021 through new investments, expanding its capacity from 110,000 to 405,000 units and employing an additional 3,500 people. With these further investments, the plant became Ford's largest commercial vehicle production in Europe.