Mercedes Vows To Continue Investment In Turkey

On the 20th anniversary of the establishment of the Mercedes-Benz Hoşdere bus factory, the German automaker has vowed to continue its investment in Turkey, Daimler bus group head Hartmut Shick said at a press conference on Thursday.

Shick said that the company's Turkey operations have not been affected by the weakened lira and it has continued to hit its targets. Adding that the company's Turkey-based Hoşdere bus factory is among the most modern of its kind, Shick said that more than 80 percent of the buses produced at the factory are exported to European and Middle Eastern countries.

Mercedes-Benz Türk board of directors Chair Britta Seeger said that Mercedes is one of Turkey's biggest foreign investors and emphasized the importance of the social projects that the company has established in Turkey, such as those supporting youth education.

The Hoşdere factory, located in İstanbul, is Turkey's largest bus factory and employs over 3,000 people.

Speaking about the company's expectations of a tax cut, Mercedes-Benz Türk Marketing and Sales Director Süer Sülün said at a meeting in İstanbul last month that sustainable market growth would provide the necessary atmosphere for Mercedes to produce cars in Turkey. The company currently only produces trucks and buses.

Sülün said Turkey is the eighth-largest market for car production in Europe and that the country lags behind its real potential due to high taxation. The Mercedes official said the company would commence car production in Turkey once the country's market grows to join the top five in Europe.

Mercedes-Benz Türk Chairman Rainer Genes said that Mercedes Turkey had broken its sales records in 2014, increasing its combined sales of trucks and buses from 50,826 in 2013 to 54,118 in 2014.

(Cihan/Today's Zaman)