Ford Otosan begins electric Transit model production in Turkey

Ford Otosan, the Turkish joint venture of Ford Motor, said has started production of its all-electric Ford Transit model under a 2 billion euro ($2.2 billion) investment to boost capacity.

It thus became the first significant automaker to produce an all-electric vehicle in Turkey in large volume, with the E-Transit model to be sold in Europe and produced at the automaker’s plant located in Kocaeli, northwest Turkey.

Ford Otosan is jointly owned by the U.S. automaker and Turkey’s largest conglomerate Koc Holding. It is set to raise the factory’s annual vehicle capacity to 650,000 from 455,000 under the 2 billion euro investment which was announced in 2020.

An assembly line will be formed for the production of at least 130,000 batteries in the plant.

Ford officials said over 5,000 orders have been received for the electric vehicle, which is now being sold in Europe.

Sales of the vehicle in the regional market will also start taking place this year.