original name British Motor Company When the brand was founded, BMC already existed abroad. BMC, of ​​British origin, was founded in 1952; The one in Turkey was founded in 1964. So what’s the difference between the two?

Founded in 1964 in Turkey and since then active in various sectors, such as various commercial vehicles, trucks, buses, military vehicles and defense industry products. History of BMC Let’s take a closer look at that.

The brand, which was active in England until 1966, was established in our country with a common capital.

In 1964, Queen Elizabeth at the opening of the BMC factory in Izmir.

We call it a common capital in those years, but it is said that most of it was linked to Turkish capital. Automotive company in the United Kingdom known as British Motor Corporation (BMC) or British Leyland, had a number of important brands under its umbrella. These brands included well-known brands such as Morris, Austin, Austin-Healey, Leyland, Riley, Nuffield, Wolseley, MG, Jaguar, Princess, Vanden Plas, Land Rover, Range Rover and Rover.

In 1980 British Motor lost power and closed. While many of its brands were sold, Land Rover/Range Rover and Jaguar were sold to Tata, which was previously a British colony. The model, previously sold as Austin Mini, Morris Mini, Leyland Mini and Rover Mini, continues operations as part of the BMW brand.

The founding family is the Özakat family, Fevzi Özakat and his sons Melih and Ergun Özakat.

The name Ergun Özakat is mentioned in many places as the founder. He trained in automotive and mechanical engineering in England, and when BMC comes up, he is obviously the first person that comes to mind. The trucks were produced during those periods localization rate is about 10%. The Özakat family manages to increase this percentage to 30%. But how?

Normally, when there are hundreds of parts in the trucks, they analyze them one by one, determine the dimensions of the parts and make calculations. What they have prepared They also distribute this documentation to manufacturers in the country.. And so many parts are starting to be produced locally.

BMC established the first car foundry in Turkey in 1973. A few years later, the first diesel engine was produced in BMC’s factories.

The company is also opening a training center for apprentices, anticipating the future, to strengthen the infrastructure. In 1986, he signed an agreement with the American company Cummins and made himself famous Fatih starts production of its trucks.

Also in 1983 Volvo Yavuz Truck, Turkey’s first series of turbocharged commercial vehicles produced in collaboration with Yavuz Truck, hits the market. To reference this collaboration, the letter “V” on the truck is designed the same as the letter in the Volvo logo.

In 1989, with all his shares It is transferred to Çukurova Holding. Thus begins the adventure of becoming a fully domestic company.

In the first years of its establishment, BMC, based in Izmir, produced tractors of the Nuffield, Leyland, Austin and Morris brands, and pick-ups of the Leyland, Morris and Austin brands.

While diesel engines were preferred over petrol taxis as domestically produced engines in the 1980s, BMC used its domestic engines in this transition. Moreover, BTR branded armored personnel carriers in the Turkish Armed Forces were also restructured by BMC..

Later for many cities low-floor public buses It also developed successful vehicles such as tactical vehicles and mine-resistant armored personnel carriers for military purposes. Over the past two years, BMC, which has the ability to develop and produce in any vehicle class, had to stop production after several payment and financial problems.

BMC was ISO certified in 1995. This quality certificate is of great importance for perfection in the automotive industry.

In 1996 it produces the Professional truck. This truck, whose intellectual and industrial rights belong entirely to the Turks, is our national pride. Initial These trucks are sold in Great Britain under the ERF brand, later marketed as BMC Professional. It conducted licensed production in countries such as Malaysia, Pakistan, Iran, Kenya, Tanzania, Ghana, Zimbabwe, Nigeria and the Republic of South Africa.

According to newspaper archives, BMC products were also believed to be sold in Canada under the ERF brand, but these plans were not realized, likely due to financial calculations or political factors. In the same archives BMC’s Ford Transit Connect or Fiat Doblo in 1989 It is written that he worked on a vehicle like this, but gave up the project.

BMC has also experienced changes in engine options.

While Leyland engines were used in the beginning, the switch was made to Volvo and later Cummins engines in the late 1980s. BMC’s product range includes a light commercial vehicle Levend, a Megastar minibus designed by Pininfarina, a midibus Probus and Midilux, a bus Belde and Procity, professional truck and the mine-resistant Kirpi vehicle.

Among her suitors Iveco and Volkswagen There are major car manufacturers such as found, but no progress has been made in this area since 2014. Regardless of the brand name, BMC is considered an important brand in terms of its contribution to the economy, employment in the Izmir region and other regions, technological opportunities and much more.

While everything went well, things also went wrong.

After being 100% incorporated into Çukurova Holding in 1989 They have made very important breakthroughs. Although things are going well for BMC, it is not possible to say the same for Çukurova Holding. In the following years, the company experienced many banking-related problems.

It is alleged that employees’ salaries have not been paid for months, and if you watch the news, you can understand this lengthy process. Naturally a production process in progress It also happens within the company.

to the present has produced almost 300,000 vehicles to date, has thousands of employees and states that its contribution to Turkey amounts to 10 million dollars. While it continues its journey as a completely local company, one name remains that the partnership brings with it.

The 50.1% shares of Ethem Sancak and Öztürk Family, published in the Commercial Registry Gazette on June 22, 2021, were sold to Tosyalı Holding, owned by Fuat Tosyalı. 49.9% of the shares are owned by the Qatari Armed Forces. belong