Konya Exports

www.konyaexports.com

Konya Exports October 2014

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ith its more than 40 years of experience in au-

tomotive industry, Meydan group, is supplying

47 thousand parts for 685 models of 41 kinds

of vehicles made by Japanese, Korean, European and

American brands. Recently the company decided to

produces car bodies by buying a factory in Bursa and by

moving it to Konya. Ömer Faruk Meydan, chairman of the

company thinks that bosses should not loose their entrep-

reneurial and commercial sprits and excitements. “They

have to think about, innovations, productivity, producti-

on, if they want to contribute to the national economy. It

is not good think only about rants, rents and interests on

bank accounts.” he said.

How did you manage to grow so much?

During the 90’s supply side of automotive spare parts

were in trouble. There were limited number of suppliers

in an industry that have began to explode by growing

foreign trade. Limited companies had been getting

enormous profits on trading automotive parts. Then

many other companies entered in the market and prices

and profits had been lowered. At that time I discovered

Taiwan as a source of automotive parts. I went there and

began to trade parts. My partners in that country did not

believe me, when I put large amount of buying orders

by paying cash. They were startled so much so that, the

banknotes laid on the table for one to two hours. They

call their bosses, they send the money to bank to check

their authenticity, and at the end our relationship has

began. Started with about 450 items, now we sell about

47 thousand items by importing from. We have been dist-

ributors of 28 great spare part manufacturers for 18 years.

Do you export?

We plan to be exporter especially to China. Last year we

exported small amount of products to Azerbaijan and

Russian markets. We have indirectly sold about 1 million

dollars worth of products via companies in Gaziantep.

Did you ever think about to produce?

Yes we did in the past to produce brake shoes in Turkey.

But regulations about asbestos applied in Europe preven-

ted this.

Do you think to enter in other fields?

We have another company, ARG, that deals with

construction and real estate businesses. We bid for state

contracts, buy lands, build industrial plants and housings.

The sector is profitable and growing fast. We bought a

factory in Konya for car body manufacturing. We will

move it to Konya.

What do you think about the industries in Konya?

Making of a national car brand in Turkey is a hot topic on

the agendas. If state funds and supports are provided,

it can be produced in Konya from top to toe. However,

the industries in Konya seemed that they do not have the

topic on their agenda and among their targets for the

future. State should lead the activities necessary for deve-

loping a national car brand in Turkey and assign respon-

sibilities to certain companies and sectors. Also there is a

serious demand for qualified labor force in the city.

“We built a factory

of car body”

One of the companies in automotive spare parts

industry in Konya, Meydan group is building a

factory to make car bodies with 10 million dol-

lars of investment. Ömer Faruk Meydan,

chairman of the company, says “We aimed to

be one of the five companies in Europe.”