"F-MAX WILL BE A NEW MILESTONE IN OUR HEAVY COMMERCIAL ADVENTURE FOR 2019"

He has indicated that they are proud to receive the international truck of the year award of the F-MAX and emphasized that 2019 will be a new milestone in their heavy commercial adventure for 2019. Here are the comments of Topçu:

"As Ford Trucks, we've concluded the 2018 heavy commercial market with a 28,5% market share and maintained our growth through the recent years. Upon examination of the market on a segment basis; We've continued our traditional leadership of the road truck segment with over 50% of the shares. In the construction segment, we've crowned our steady growth in the recent years as the segment leader with 39% of the market shares. For the tractor segment, we've managed to take an important step by increasing our market share from 9,2% in 2017 to 15,6%. Thanks to our constant R&D and product investments throughout the last 10 years, we've more than doubled our total market shares since 2008. We expect that our market share growth will steadily continue in the upcoming period. Considering the current economic conditions, we anticipate that the decline will continue in the construction segment a bit further and that the segment's shares in the total market will decrease from 30% to 28%. We also estimate that the tractor segment's shares in the heavy commercial vehicle market will rise from 53% to 55% in 2019. According to our projections, the road segment will be in parallel with 2018, and remain at about 17%."

"We've Begun Working to Produce a Domestic Transmission with An Investment of 49,5 Million Euros"

"On the other hand, at this point, we're not just investing in our products but also in our tests and production facilities to improve our localization ratio. In 2018, we've begun working to produce a domestic transmission with an investment of 49,5 Million Euros. We're planning to complete our development projects in 2019 and begin using our own transmission on our trucks as of 2020. Our localization rate will rise further with the launch of our new transmission. We've inaugurated Ford heavy commercial vehicles' sole test center in Europe at the İnönü factory in Eskişehir. As a result, we can now conduct various tests we used to conduct in Europe, right at our own facilities."

"We're Very Proud of the F-MAX Winning The 'International Truck of the Year (ITOY) 2019 Award'"

"Beside all of these, we've been working on our new tractor F-MAX for the last 5 years and it will change the level of competition on an international scale. We've globally launched the tractor at the world's most prestigious commercial vehicle fair in Hannover in October. The F-MAX was named 'International Truck of the Year (ITOY) 2019' and made us very proud. This award very well explains the level of our vehicle production and development capabilities at Ford Otosan. This award is one of the most prestigious awards of the heavy commercial vehicle industry and we've received it following the assessments of 23 different jury members from 23 European countries. It has been a very significant step for our future as well. Our infrastructure and global structure are ready to launch F-MAX as a new player into international markets. It will be a new milestone in our heavy commercial adventure for 2019."

"We're Planning to Operate In 51 Countries After 2020"

"As Ford Trucks, we currently have dealerships and distributorship activities in 36 countries. For 2019, our goal is to operate in 41 countries and we're planning to operate in 51 countries after 2020. In the upcoming term, we will establish new facilities, expand our dealership network and implement systems that support both sales and after-sales operations. Our rapid growth will seamlessly continue. We will introduce a new power into the production, commerce and export potential of Turkey and continue to rapidly contribute to the economy. Our new tractor F-MAX will play an important role in our sustainable growth in the tractor truck segment. Due to current economic conditions in the construction segment, we estimate that the decline will continue for a bit further. However, in return, we shall improve our market share in the tractor truck segment with our award-winning tractor truck F-MAX."

"We've Received Nearly 70 Dealership Demands from Europe After the Award"

"This year, we're planning on entering the Polish, Lithuanian, Latvian and Estonian markets in Europe and additionally, we will continue our growth in Africa and Middle East. On the other hand, after our new tractor won the award, we've received nearly 70 dealership demands from Europe. Accordingly, we've moved our plans for the Western Europe to an earlier period and began dealership meetings for 7 new countries with Spain, Italy and Portugal in particular. Growing in the European market will improve our export opportunities. As Ford Otosan, we will continue to make international achievements and provide added value to the Turkish economy."