Developments & Opportunıtıes
ACCORDING TO THE 2014 NUMBERS, THERE ARE 189 MOTOR VEHICLES PER 1000 PEO-PLE IN TURKEY, WHILE THAT NUMBER IS 569 IN EUROPE AND 808 IN THE USA. THESE NUMBERS, AS WELL AS THE RAPID GROWTH OF THE MOTOR VEHICLE STOCK, SHOW THAT THE DEMAND FOR MOTOR VEHICLES IS STILL FAR FROM SATURATION IN TURKEY. THIS IS REGARDED AS AN OPPORTUNITY FOR THE AUTOMOTIVE INDUSTRY, AN IT CAN BE ELABORATED AS FOLLOWS:
o In Turkey, due to the rapidly growing economy, increasing population that creates housing de-mand, and the improvement of transportation facilities, especially motorways, the demand for commercial and light vehicles is growing. Lower taxation of commercial vehicles is another fac-tor that increases the demand for these vehicles. Turkey has a strong market potential.
o The automotive industry has a prominent position among the companies with the largest R&D investments in Turkey, and its share continues to grow. Accordingly, Turkey is well qualified for new technologies and vehicle manufacturing.
o Turkey’s geopolitical location provides easy access to several markets.
o Especially large corporations such as Mercedes and Ford Otosan are steadily increasing their investments in Turkey.
o The developments in the logistics industry have a positive effect on exports. This is an ad-vantage that creates new opportunities.
o Turkey has great global competitive power in automotive. Its competitive edge is particularly clear in the area of truck and bus manufacturing. Production quality, high efficiency and low costs are the factors behind this.
o The average age of Turkey’s vehicle stock is quite high, which is an indicator that sales of new vehicles will rise in the future.
o The ability to adapt to conjunctural fluctuations and to changes in regulations and standards is one of Turkey’s strong suits. Researches done in the industry show that global executives re-gard changes like these as a threat, whereas Turkish executives are generally more optimistic about adaptation.
o Turkey’s dependent population is relatively high. Considering the fact that dependent population lacks the means to purchase motor vehicles, the demand for vehicles is expected to increase as the dependent population shrinks in the coming years.
Source: Republic Of Turkey Prime Ministry Investment Support And Promotion Agency
o Turkish women’s labor force participation rate is increasing, which is an indicator that demand will increase as household incomes rise.
o The investments in education help create a highly qualified work force.
o In the engineering area, Turkey has a competitive edge in terms of labor costs.
o Turkey also has competitive energy costs when compared to the EU countries.
o Several incentives are available for investors, such as tax cuts, interest incentives, reimburse-ments for employees’ social security costs, and subsidized land allocations etc. The automotive industry is assigned priority status in the investment incentives system.
o The need for innovation comes with many opportunities. The Turkish automotive industry, with its increasing number of innovation centers, has the capability to create platforms that bring en-terprising entities together.
o The R&D laws, technoparks and project-based incentives also help make Turkey favorable for investment. Offering new advantages with incentives for R&D and investment, the government delivers its share of contributions to this vision.
o Renewal and revival of the cash-for-clunkers incentive can speed the decommissioning of old cars which helps to both reduce environmental impact and improve vehicle and pedestrian safety. Furthermore, this program is an important opportunity to revitalize the market, and lower scrap imports.
