OSS: The number of vehicles sold is not at the desired level

Ziya Özalp, President of the Automotive After-Sales Products and Services Association (OSS), shared his assessments of the sector.

Stating that while there will be a decrease in some parts with the transformation into the car, there will also be an increase in some parts, Özalp said that the production cost of electric vehicles is roughly double that of existing conventional vehicles, for what the market is not in for a big change until 2035. .

Recalling that just over 7,000 vehicles were sold in Turkey last year, Özalp said that it is still not at the desired level.

Stating that the market is growing, Özalp said:

“In parallel with 2021, we can say that there is a growth increase of approximately 18 percent in 2022. Despite all the negativities in the supply chain, we can say that there is growth of at least 2 digits in terms of numbers. Part of our membership structure is manufacturer, part is distributor… We see more growth mainly in our distributor members”.

‘SUPPLY THE MOST IMPORTANT PROBLEM IN THE SECTOR’

Ziya Özalp also made assessments of the problems in the sector. Emphasizing that 3 problems arise, although there are 7-8 problems in the basic sense, Özalp used the following expressions;

“First of all, there are supply problems. Mobility in exchange rates and shipping costs… The chip crisis was partly, but not fully, resolved. Because not only with the lack of production, the number of chips in vehicles and spare parts is increasing day by day.

While the need for this continues on a growing chart, it is not possible to solve the entire crisis in one fell swoop to meet the demand coming from behind. We found that even the car was undeliverable when there was no chip. Some of the vehicles were delivered with only one key. The other key would be delivered a year later. Because it said ‘no chip’ or ‘we have to remove some accessories’.

All in all, the supply chain is a crucial point for the automotive industry from start to finish.”

‘THE CENTERS IN THE MIDDLE EAST ARE MANAGED FROM TURKEY’

OSS President Ziya Özalp answered questions from journalists after his speech. When asked about the production and investment wishes of foreign investors in Turkey, Özalp made the following assessments:

“Foreigners closely followed the Turkish market, especially the countries of the European Union. They were already buying products from many manufacturers at their supply points. Unfortunately, we have not yet created our own brand at the point of production, and Turkish brands have become known to the world, mainly by entering European boxes.

When we see a declining market in Europe, Turkey is an indispensable point. To put it bluntly, they had already reached our borders. In other words, at this time, many large organizations in Bulgaria and Greece, American companies, and many European companies began to consolidate and expand their growth.

Especially for the connection to the Middle East, Turkey is actually a hub at this point. Many foreign companies are already manufacturers in Turkey. All international brands manage their Middle East headquarters from Turkey.

‘There are talks about foreign investment’

There are investment discussions, not only with European companies, but also with Middle Eastern companies recently at this point. It is also in terms of production. At this point, there is a situation where companies in the Middle East can move their production to Turkey.

It is because of the capacity of Turkey, but he has plans to buy companies here, as well as expand this market in the Turkish market or combine it with that European market”.

‘EYT CAN CREATE A BIG PROBLEM’

Ziya Özalp also assessed the possible effects of EYT on the sector. Pointing out that EYT could represent a big problem for the automotive industry, Özalp concluded her words as follows:

“Some sectors didn’t even understand this, they don’t even know what EYT is… But it’s a really big problem for us. Because the experience in the automotive sector and the efficiency of the number of people in the automotive sector are from a certain age.

Today it is very difficult to find a painter, a body shop and a maintenance person. For this reason, we are making a very serious effort to retain all of our employees who have retired in the normal sense before the EYT. Now a little more effort is needed at this point.

‘The AUTOMOTIVE INDUSTRY IS NOT READY’

In order to increase the satisfaction of their employees, our companies were trying to develop this in the sector very seriously both in terms of personal rights and additional benefits. This is an important and critical issue for us. We definitely and definitely should not lose these people.

The biggest problem in the country is the disappearance of the profile in all the problems that can be related to arts and crafts right now, the fact that vocational high schools are not as attractive as before, and people are now more adaptable to digital solutions, desk jobs, along with the digital world. The auto industry is not quite ready for this. It’s not fully digital yet.

‘IT WAS NOT A SITUATION THAT WOULD BENEFIT THE COUNTRY’

There is talk of upgrading cars, like a phone upgrade on the future, but there are also 20 million cars sold in the past. Your maintenance, repair and sale policies are very important. In this sense, our outlook towards EYT, to be honest, was not very positive from the beginning.

In other words, it was not a situation that would greatly benefit the country. We are not talking about the victimization of employees, it would be tempting to produce solutions keeping them in the industry or the business world without making them suffer.

If we really experience this job loss, if people really retire at a very young age, this point will really put a lot of sectors in trouble, the first of which is automotive” (AA)