Automotive sector giant, the Ford Motor Company is a global company based in Dearborn, Michigan, US. The company designs, manufactures, markets and services a full line of Ford cars, trucks, SUVs, electrified vehicles and Lincoln luxury vehicles, provides financial services through Ford Motor Credit Company, and is pursuing leadership positions in electrification, autonomous vehicles, and mobility solutions. Ford employs approximately 194,000 people worldwide.
Ford Otomotiv A.Ş., a publicly held company in which Ford Motor Company and Koç Holding hold equal shares, carries out the production and export of commercial vehicles, as well as the import, sales and after-sales services of Ford brand cars.
Ford Otosan, the leader of the Turkish automotive sector, employs over 10,000 employees and operates in three different locations: the Gölcük and Yeniköy factories in Kocaeli, the İnönü factory in Eskişehir, the Spare Part Distribution Center and R&D Center in İstanbul-Sancaktepe. With its staff of over 1,100 R&D engineers, Ford Otosan has one of the largest private sector R&D organizations, and is also the most valuable automotive company in Borsa İstanbul.
Ford Otosan was established as Türkiye’s first automotive company in 1959 and manufactured the first Turkish automobile, Anadol, in 1969. It also produced Türkiye’s first domestic diesel engine ERK, in 1986, further reinforcing its position as the leader of the domestic automotive industry in 2009, after becoming the first company to export vehicles from Türkiye to the Americas. The company’s Kocaeli factories enjoy many logistical advantages, including proximity to the sub-industry facilities and having its own port facilities. These advantages ensure low-cost and flexible manufacturing potential, while also enabling the company to execute a large-scale export program. Ford Otosan exports vehicles, parts, and engineering to 94 countries across five continents, and since 2004 it ranks among the three Turkish companies with the highest exports. Moreover, for the last four years, the company has been the export champion of Türkiye and for the last eight years export champion of its sector.
Today, with a history of almost 60 years to its name, Ford Otosan is the commercial vehicle production center of Ford Europe with a total production capacity of 455,000 commercial vehicles, 75,000 engines and 140,000 power trains. With its impressive vehicle production capacity, Ford Otosan has the highest installed production capacity in the Turkish automotive sector. Meanwhile, Ford Otosan’s Gölcük factory, which began operations in 2001, is the leading production center for the Ford Transit, as well as the sole production center of the Transit Custom and Tourneo Custom models. Similarly, Ford Otosan’s Yeniköy factory, which was founded in 2014, is the sole production center of the Ford Courier.
All engineering activities relating to the Ford’s heavy commercial vehicle segment are carried out by Ford Otosan under the brand Ford Trucks, while the vehicles are produced at the Eskişehir factory and distributed in world markets. The İnönü factory also manufactures engines and powertrains for commercial and heavy commercial vehicles.
In 1961, Ford Otosan became the first company in the Turkish automotive sector to initiate an R&D program, one in which it has continued to invest ever since. Ford Otosan now possesses the largest R&D center in the Turkish automotive sector and is the only company in Türkiye that is capable of entirely designing, testing and producing a vehicle from zero, including its engine and internal and external visual designs. In addition to being a global engineering center for Ford’s heavy commercial vehicles and related diesel engine and engine systems, Ford Otosan also operates as a support center for design and engineering of Ford’s light commercial vehicle. The R&D center, established in Sancaktepe in 2014, is currently Türkiye’s largest R&D center located at a single facility.
With its 35,000 m² of closed storage area, the Sancaktepe Spare Part Distribution Center is the largest in Türkiye, as well as being, in terms of closed area capacity, Ford’s fourth largest in Europe. The Ford Otosan Spare Part Distribution Center is the main hub, where all of Ford Otosan’s spare parts, marketing, sales and after-sales operations are managed.
Ford Otosan also distinguishes itself through its corporate social responsibility awareness activities and helps improve the quality of education by building schools, installing laboratories in vocational schools and providing equipment and scholarships in main regions of its activities. Based on its brand promise, Go Further, Ford Otosan gives its word that it will always think further to develop more stunning products, form a strong business model, and create a better world both for its employees and customers.