National Electric Vehicle Sweden (NEVS) has become the industrial partner of Turkey's national car project. According to the statement, NEVS began co-operating with the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TÜBITAK) in June 2015, and plans to generate future industrial synergies in terms of development and manufacturing. It added that in the near term, NEVS will give TÜBITAK access to its automotive knowledge and experience. It will also support the development of a business plan and creation of supply chain. NEVS president Mattias Bergman said, "I am very proud to have this strategic cooperation in place. Turkey will be a long-term partner and we will both gain a lot from this cooperation. With Turkey’s focus on electric vehicles we also see this as an important step towards our vision of shaping mobility for a more sustainable future."
Significance: Although there is already a good amount of light-vehicle production in Turkey, the government has been keen to bring a vehicle to market from a wholly owned Turkish brand for a number of years now, and this appears to be the biggest step towards this goal so far. Further details have been revealed by Science, Industry and Technology Minister Fikri Işık who was quoted in a television interview by the Hurriyet Daily News via Anadolu Agency as saying that the company has bought the intellectual property rights to the Saab 9-3. However, he added that it would be a Turkish brand vehicle and that technology would be developed locally. The politician also said that there would be around 85% local sourcing. According to Işık, the decision to acquire intellectual property rights from NEVS was taken instead of developing its own vehicle fully, which would take between three and five years and cost around USD1 billion. He added that the cost of the rights was "very affordable" without giving details. Işık has also confirmed that the vehicle will eventually be available with an electric powertrain. For NEVS, this relationship is likely to help secure the business going forward as it had previously struggled with cash flow. TÜBITAK will join other partners of NEVS, including new shareholder Tianjin Binhai Hi-tech industrial Development Area (THT) and the Beijing State Research Information Technology Co., Ltd. (SRIT) as well as information technology company Teamsun. It is also co-operating with Dongfeng.
