Deuter Zitsche, Chairman of Daimler AG and President of Mercedes-Benz, said that Mercedes-Benz is planning to increase its investments in Turkey to 2018, currently worth 1.1 billion Turkish liras, around 290 Million US dollars.
The groundbreaking ceremony of the expansion facility was attended by Turkey’s Minister of Science, Industry and Technology Fikri Işık and Mercedes-Benz Türk executives. Speaking at the ceremony, Minister Işık said that Turkey ranked first in bus and light commercial vehicle production in the EU and second in trucks. Speaking at the event, Mercedes-Benz Türk CFO Stefan Baasner said that the company’s EUR 113 million investment program would significantly increase the company’s exports from Turkey. “By 2018, Mercedes Benz Türk investments in Aksaray will amount to EUR 470 million,” Baasner noted.
The company’s Aksaray plant produced a total of 19,866 trucks in 2015, its highest annual figure to date. The production will rise to 34,000 vehicles over the next three years. Mercedes-Benz Türk exports trucks of various size and capacities to 58 countries from the Aksaray plant.
As for the Vito range, last year it achieved the highest sales figures in history, said Dieter Zetsche. In Turkey, the luxury car segment also ranked first in terms of sales of passenger cars. “Despite the difficult conditions experienced by the Turkish market, Mercedes-Benz has successfully called 2017 with total sales of 48,778 vehicles,” he said.
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