Turkish carmaker Tofas is planning to build its own model, parent company chairman Mustafa Koc has confirmed.
Tofas is a joint venture between conglomerate Koc Holding and Fiat which manufactures the Italian company’s vehicles at Bursa in the northwest of the country.
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Koc told journalists that Fiat would provide technical support but the vehicle would be made by Tofas, adding: “It would be a car in a category that everyone could buy.”
He did not provide a timeframe or any other details.
At this month’s Detroit show, Fiat chairman Sergio Marchionne confirmed that he had been in talks with Turkey’s prime minister Tayyip Erdogan about such a project.
He added: “It’s an interesting idea. But you can’t start a brand from scratch, you need a solid base to start from. We could certainly provide an architecture on which to base a vehicle but then the rest needs to be done locally.
“That includes the component sourcing, the vehicle body and styling, etc. Then we would want to be very clear about which market sector such a car competed with and where else it might be sold outside the country. We don’t want to increase the competition.”
