Turkey's indigenous cars to be ready for sale by 2021

By Cigdem Alyanak

BURSA, Turkey (AA) - Prime Minister Binali Yildirim on Sunday said that the prototype of Turkey's first indigenous automobile would be ready next year and sales would begin in two to three years.

"The prototype of Turkey's first indigenous car will be ready in 2019 and mass production will be completed in 2020-2021," Yildirim said at a provincial congress of the ruling Justice and Development (AK) party in the northwestern province of Bursa.

"As the government, we will further increase our production capacity, competitiveness, and research and development capacity. By accelerating technology transfer, we will produce more domestic products," he added.

Turkey launched a joint venture to produce its first domestically-produced car in November last year.

Five local firms -- Anadolu Group, BMC, Kiraca Holding, Turkcell, and Zorlu Holding -- will jointly manufacture Turkey's first car.

Yildirim underlined that Turkey continued to grow and develop "at a time when even the strongest economies of the world are hit by a crisis".

"The record economic growth in 2017 continues with an increase in exports and employment," he said.

Last year, Turkey's economy expanded 5.3 percent in the first quarter and 5.4 percent in the second. In the third quarter, the economy became the fastest-growing among G20 countries, showing a double-digit (11.1 percent) growth performance.