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Mercedes busses, trucks back on track in Turkey

31 March 2011 [11:11] - TODAY.AZ
Mercedes-Benz Turk, the local branch of the global carmaker, plans to invest $200 million in their plants in Aksaray in Central Anatolia and in Istanbul over the next two or three years, according to Industry and Trade Minister Nihat Ergün.

Speaking after a Wednesday meeting with Wolf Dieter Kurz, the chairman of Mercedes-Benz Turk, and Süer Sülün, the marketing and sales director in Istanbul, Ergün said: "We do not see Mercedes as a foreign investor. We embrace them as a Turkish company."

The minister congratulated the two officials for Mercedes' investments, production, exports and the jobs created in the past 44 years in Turkey.

Aside from commercial vehicles, the government expects Mercedes-Benz to begin manufacturing automobiles in Turkey, Ergün also said.

Noting that the commercial vehicles industry was deeply affected by the global crisis, as they were goods of investment, not consumption, and cost much more than passenger cars, Ergün said, the sector has started recovering. Truck and bus production is rising again, the minister said.

Turkey is a good country to invest in with a fine business environment, said Kurz of Mercedes-Benz, adding that they considered the country not as a domestic market but as a gateway to other markets.

The company has invested $900 million in Turkey over the past 44 years, he said.

Mercedes-Benz Turk was hurt by the crisis but managed to overcome an 80 percent shrinkage in truck production and between 20 and 25 percent shrinkage in busses without any layoffs.

The company employs 4,500 people in two facilities in Turkey and sales are back on track, said Kurz.

"Turkey has become both a production and research base for us," he said.


/Hurriyet Daily News/
URL: http://www.today.az/news/regions/83456.html

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