Not the first
Ford wanted to produce batteries for electric cars in Turkey, but that does not seem to be happening for the time being. One of the three parties involved has pulled the plug due to market conditions.
Ford, together with LG and the Turkish Koc Holding, planned to set up a battery factory in Turkey. That’s not going to happen anytime soon. Koc Holding is withdrawing from the intention agreement, it is reported Reuters. Koc Holding does not want to go ahead with the plans due to the market conditions for electric cars. “Given the current pace of adoption of electric vehicles, it is not good timing for an investment in battery cells,” they said Reuters. It is strongly reminiscent of a statement from the Volkswagen Group earlier this month. This will also delay the arrival of new battery factories for the time being, due to ‘flattening sales growth’ in electric cars.
More than a year and a half ago we heard about the possible arrival of a Ford battery factory in Turkey. The intention at the time was to eventually produce between 30 and 45 GWh of battery capacity annually in that factory. The batteries were intended for cars such as the fully electric Ford Puma and Transit/Tourneo Courier. Koc Holding says it will continue to work closely with Ford for car production in Turkey and would like to continue working together for battery production in the future, should the market demand more.
– Thanks for information from Autoweek.nl