TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Taiwanese motorcycle and scooter manufacturer KYMCO (光陽工業) announced plans to begin manufacturing motorcycles in Turkey, with the goal of establishing an assembly plant that will produce vehicles for the European market.
The CEO of KYMCO, Ko Chun-ping (柯俊斌), made the announcement Wednesday (Sept. 28) at a press event in Istanbul to promote the KYMCO CV3 cycle, which went on sale in Turkey this week. KYMCO will partner with the Turkish company Doğan Trend Otomotiv to begin manufacturing vehicles for the Turkish market initially, according to Turkish media.
Doğan Trend CEO Kağan Dağtekin also discussed the plans for cooperation between the two companies. His statements at the press event were quoted by Railly News.
“We decided to embark on this journey with … products suitable for the Turkish market in the first place. Then our target will be to increase the rate of indigenization. In order for an assembly plant to be meaningful, it is necessary to produce 5,000 or more per model. We will start like this and develop over time. KYMCO's market share in Europe reached 11%. Our excitement is to be able to export from Turkey to Europe in the long term. We set out with this dream, we will succeed. We received the promise that we will receive all the support from KYMCO, who came to visit us at the highest level.”
Somag News reports that the two companies will establish working groups soon to develop a suitable production model.
