International Newsmaker Q&A: Haydar Yenigun

Jan. 1, 2020
Ford's Turkey division’s general manager, Haydar Yenigün, provides more details about the operation’s performance coming into 2013.
Ford is reporting that it is the most-preferred nameplate in Turkey for the 11th consecutive year, having sold more than a million vehicles during that time period. In Turkey’s automotive marketplace – where there is tough competition among 60 brands – 112,000 of the 812,000 vehicles sold domestically in 2012 bore the Ford blue oval, amounting to a 13.8 percent share. Add in the automaker’s Turkish exports from last year, and Ford Otosan’s total tabulates to 317,000 units.

The division’s general manager, Haydar Yenigün, provides more details about the operation’s performance coming into 2013:

Subscribe to Aftermarket Business World and receive articles like this every month….absolutely free. Click here.

What are some of the milestones that you have experienced?

For us, 2012 became a year full of success and innovations. We laid the foundation of our production facility next to our factory in Kocaeli by continuing our $1 billion investments. The Yeniköy factory, which became operational as a result of a fixed-asset investment of 205 million euros will be the third factory manufacturing commercial vehicles for global markets of Ford Otosan.

Also, we introduced our new generation Transit models, the Tourneo Custom and Transit Custom, to the market by opening the third production line in our Gölcük factory, which was established by a loan of Euro 190 million from the European Investment Bank.

The reward of our great efforts was a number of awards from the most prestigious global organizations in our industry. Our 1.0 EcoBoost engine was selected as the Engine of the Year in 2012. The new Ranger received the award of the 2012 Pick-up of the Year and Transit Custom was selected as the 2013 Commercial Vehicle of the Year. The Cargo 1846 ranked third in the Truck of the Year awards. Also, Transit Custom became the first and only commercial vehicle receiving the five stars from EuroNCAP. B-MAX made us proud by receiving the AutoBest 2013 award. No doubt, our efforts to democratize the technology played an important role in our success. However, the most important award we received came from our customers. They made us the market leader for 11th year in a row by preferring our vehicles. I want to thank to all Turkey.

What about market share?

Turkey has the highest market share in commercial vehicles among Ford’s markets in Europe. Ford did not only complete the year 2012 by becoming the best selling brand in Turkey, but also continued its leadership position within Ford by achieving the highest market share in Europe thanks to its 25.5 percent share in the commercial vehicle segment. The United Kingdom, Ireland, Hungary and Romania followed Turkey in sales figures.

How was 2012 overall?

Domestic market: Ford became the most popular brand in Turkey with its market share of 13.8 percent and its total 112,000 units in retail sales.

Export: Ford Otosan continued to expand its exports by sending Transit to every location where trade is made in the world. It increased the number of countries where it sells vehicles and spare parts to 75 by adding the South Africa, Georgia, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan to the its export markets. It sold 6,500 units to the markets in Asia and Europe, while exporting 49,312 Transit Connects to the Northern America. The export revenue of Ford Otosan reached $3.2 billion in 2012.

Total sales: Selling 317,000 units in total, including the exports, and by introducing eye-catching new models to the market Ford clenched its success in the commercial vehicle, private vehicle and truck segments.

Production: Ford Otosan manufactured 272,104 vehicles, bringing its capacity utilization to 83 percent. Its capacity utilization exceeded the average of European markets and Turkey thanks to its capacity of 210,000 in Transit, 110,000 in Transit Connect and 10,000 in Cargo truck.

Employment: Ford Otosan continued to have the highest employment figure in the automotive industry with 9,527 employees.

R&D: It continued to be the largest R&D organization in the Turkish private sector with its R&D engineers whose number increased to 1,240. As one of the three largest R&D centers of Ford global, it remained as the company with highest R&D spending in the Turkish automotive market. It already exceeded the average R&D spending in Turkey targeted for 2023 of 3.2 percent.

Investment: Ford Otosan realized $423 million of the $1 billion of investment targeted for the 2011-2014 period.

Dividends: Making dividend payments of $2.5 billion in total between 2004 and 2012, when the annual growth rate was 20 percent, Ford Otosan ranked the first in ISE with an average dividend yield of 12 percent in the last five years. It also remained as the automotive company making the highest dividend payment with 579 million TL (Turkish funds) in 2012. At the same time, Ford Otosan ranked as the second industry company paying the highest dividend since its public offering.

What are your targets for 2013?

We will continue to take further steps in 2013 in the light of our “Go Further” vision. Our objective for the last decade is to continue our leadership by expanding further. We expect the total sales in the Turkish automotive industry to be between 780,000 and 820,000 units in 2013.

Our target is to keep our retail sales at 112,000 units and to become the best-selling brand in the market once again. We are planning to export 212,000 units thanks to the diversity of our markets and models despite shrinking markets in Europe. Our total sales target is 324,000 units.

We are targeting a production figure of 267,000 units, employment figure of 9,375 people and to increase the number of R&D engineers to 1,300 in 2013 by continuing our success both in local sales and export markets. We are going to increase our capacity to 415,000 units with the new models in the next two years. Our new source of pride, the New Ford Cargo 1846T model, will hit the roads in the first months of the year. Our passenger cars will increase its competitive power thanks to their renovated design and technologies.

We are going to start the sales of our New Kuga model shortly alongside the renewed Fiesta in which we began to receive the pre-orders, the New Transit Connect as well as the New Transit, the hallmark of trade, in the last quarter of next year. Our biggest objective is to keep our leadership target in the same momentum in 2013 by adding new models to our product range. We will continue to win the hearts and minds of our customers with our new models which will reach 15 in early 2014 since their introduction to the market in 2012.

How would you assess the global picture for Ford in 2013?

New Fiesta on sale: With Trend and Titanium hardware options and new design and advance technology features, Ford Fiesta has been put on sale in the New Year with a price starting from TL 33,311. All New Fiesta also includes Onboard Communication System, Ford SYNC, offered by upper segment vehicles, which connect the passengers onboard to the emergency service operators using the language in the area. Designed to help drivers avoid or mitigate accidents at low speeds alongside Ford’s approach for the democratization of technology, Ford Active City Stop can also be acquired with the Fiesta. New Fiesta also has MyKey feature, which encourages a safer drive for the grown-ups while also enabling the reduction of the driving risks for the young drivers.

New Kuga getting ready for launch: Offering a more stylish, spacious and impressive design in addition to new technologies, New Kuga includes features such as “Smart Tailgate” which opens automatically without using hands by gently kicking of the feet under the boot. New Kuga also features Ford’s advanced voice control, external device integration and connection system SYNC as well as Emergency Assistance. Planned to be launched in the first quarter of 2013, New Kuga offers 1.6 liter EcoBoost petrol engine option which is also available at Focus and C-MAX models. This engine is driven by both manual and automatic transmission. 163 PS PowerShift automatic version of Ford’s popular 2.0 liter TDCi diesel engine is also available with New Kuga.

Cargo 1846T tractor on sale in the first quarter: New Ford Cargo Tractor, which is the reflection of Ford’s “One Ford” strategy in heavy duty commercial vehicles, highlights the inherent traits of Ford Cargo such power, comfort, productivity and durability in order to satisfy the expectations of customers having domestic and international transportation activity. It is targeted that the New Ford Cargo Tractor becomes an attractive choice in international and domestic transportation industry thanks to its high quality, high performance and low fuel consumption values. With its 10.3 liter 6-cylinder engine, the New Ford Cargo tractor has an output of 460 PS at 2.100 rpm and a torque of 2.100 Nm at a wide range of 1.050 rpm to 1.550 rpm. The tractor is remarkable with its prolonged engine thanks to its oil-cooled pistons, its low fuel consumption with the SCR technology Euro5, and its extended service range. Ford Cargo 1846T's motor cooling fan also provides an additional 1.5 percent fuel saving thanks to its adjustable speed. New Ford Cargo Tractor now has the option of both manual and automatic transmission.

New Transit replaces the existing Transit: Heralding the dawn of the new generation global Transit commercial vehicles, New Transit will replace the current Transit as a functional, strong and innovative alternative. Developed and produced in Kocaeli along with the One Ford product strategy, New Transit will be put on sale in six continents including the Europe, North America and other major markets at the end of 2013. Having a considerably wide range with various body types and models, New Transit is targeting to achieve the best fuel economy of its class. At New Transit, users can also choose a number of useful features and driver support technologies offered by Ford’s latest passenger cars. These include Ford SYNC, voice controlled Emergency Support vehicle communication system, Rear View Camera, Adaptive Cruise Control and Lane Departure Warning.

New Transit Connect to be launched in the last quarter: Developed by Ford Otosan for European, North American and other global markets along with the One Ford product strategy, New global compact Transit Connect includes a stylish cockpit, smart cargo box solutions and the latest driver support features, and is the first vehicle in its class offering the Active City Stop. The vehicle also has Ford SYNC, the voice-controlled onboard communication system with Emergency Support. In the European engine family, the New Transit is offered with the extremely productive 1.6 liter Duratorq TDCi diesel and the new “International Engine of 2012” 1.0 liter EcoBoost petrol engine as well as a version of the highly-liked 1.6 liter EcoBoost engine mounted with the six-speed automatic transmission with 79, 95 and 115 PS versions. Both diesel and petrol engine models of the vehicle will include Automatic Start/Stop features as option. Innovative technologies of the New Transit also include Electronic Stability Program (ESP) that contains Load Adaptive Control.

For more information, visit www.fordotosan.com.tr/.

Subscribe to Aftermarket Business World and receive articles like this every month….absolutely free. Click here.

Sponsored Recommendations

ZEUS+: The Cutting-Edge Diagnostic Solution for Smart, Fast, and Efficient Auto Repairs

The new ZEUS+ simplifies your diagnostic process and guides you through the right repair, avoiding unnecessary steps along the way. It gives you the software coverage, processing...

Diagnostic Pre- and Post-scan Reports are Solid Gold for Profitability

The following article highlights the significance of pre-scans and post-scans, particularly with Snap-on scan tools, showcasing their efficiency in diagnosing issues and preventing...

Unlock Precision and Certainty: TRITON-D10 Webinar Training for Advanced Vehicle Diagnostics

The TRITON-D10 lets you dig deep into the systems of a vehicle and evaluate performance with comparative data, systematically eliminating the unnecessary to provide you with only...

APOLLO-D9: Trustworthy Diagnostics for Precision Repairs

The APOLLO-D9 provides the diagnostic information and resources you need to get the job done. No more hunting through forums or endlessly searching to find the right answers. ...

Voice Your Opinion!

To join the conversation, and become an exclusive member of Vehicle Service Pros, create an account today!