(MENAFN- The Peninsula) By Mohammad Shoeb / The Peninsula
DOHA: Qatar is set to make huge investments in Turkey's automobile industry to develop Turkey's first car brand which is being produced indigenously from the scratch.
Turkey already has many car manufacturing facilities, but they are either joint ventures with foreign brands or owned by international auto giants, but the upcoming car will be a fully Turkish brand.
'Qatar, through a Turkish company, is investing in Turkey's automobile industry. It's through a private company, in which Qatar holds stake, which have join hands with other Turkish investors to implement the ambitious project, Shiekh Khalifa bin Jassim Al Thani, Chairman of Qatar Chamber told The Peninsula yesterday.
Commenting on the upcoming project, Burak Guressi, Commercial Counsellor, at the Embassy of the Republic of Turkey to Doha, said: 'Turkey is trying to build its own car brand and automobile manufacturing facility. A consortium of five companies has been formed who have come together to invest jointly, including BMC in which Qatari government (Qatari Armed Forces) owns significant stake.
He added: 'Qatar's investment to the project is through BMC. We do not know many details about the project, such as size of the project, share of each companies and the timeframe of completion.
Each of the five companies, according to Burak, are expected to develop separate parts of the car, such as the engine, chassis, and other major components.
Pesident Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in early November last year announced the names of five companies - Anadolu Group, BMC, Kıraça Holding, Turkcell and Zorlu Holding - that will take part in the consortium to make Turkey's first domestically produced car.
It will be a sedan car to be sold in the local market, which will eventually be exported to other foreign markets.
'Turkey has local as well as foreign car manufacturers with in the country, but we still import nearly 70 percent of the cars sold in the country. We have companies like Fiat, Renault, Volkswagen (VW), Toyota, Honda and Hyundai, but the upcoming car will be Turkey's own brand car, said Burak.
This is the said to be the pet project of the President, who is y keen to have Turkey's own car brand. President Erdoğan asked private investors to come forward and joint hand to implement the project.
'Since this is a very big project, this is why five companies have come together to execute it. The aim is to build all the components of the car within the country, including the engine, he said.
Burak also said that initially they are expected to build sedan cars, which can be expanded to manufacture SUVs as well as electric vehicles, which is has a growing market in Turkey and outside.
During the launch event of the names of the participating companies on November 2, Erdoğan had expressed his gratitude to the firms, and pledged his full support for the venture. He also said that he will be closely following the relevant developments in the project.
The joint venture group is expected to finish the preparation process quickly, to complete the prototype of the car in 2019 and for sales to begin in 2021.
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