Educator, Economist researcher, Economic Policy columnist Çiğdem Yorgancioglu writes articles in fields such as Economy, Politics, Art, Law, Academic Life, Innovation, Sustainability, Sports, Health in Turcomoney. Before the Eid holiday, Yorgancıoğlu met with other academic writers during the dinner organized by Dr Kazım KILINÇ, Chairman of K Media Group and Founding President of TURCOMONEY, Turkey’s only international economy/finance magazine. The event took place at the 5-star WOW Istanbul Hotel and the speakers of the night were from the Chinese giant automotive company CHERY TURKEY. After the participation, Çiğdem Yorgancıoğlu’s impressions of the night, which also touched on areas such as Future Technologies, Sharing Economy, Sustainability, Automotive sector in China and in the world, has been shared .Her interactions with academics are also reflected.
IMPRESSION OF TURCOMONEY-CHERY TURKEY MEETING and DINNER by ÇİĞDEM YORGANCIOĞLU,
INTRODUCTION -Preface
Refereeing by the predictions of experts; the technologies such as autonomous driving, nanotechnology displays, VR, ER and AR augmented reality will dominate the cars of the future. The car key will be a thing of the past. Humanoid artificial intelligence avatars called humanoids also read our brains. So they will know in advance what we want and guide us to our ultimate goals in electric or hydrogen-powered cars’. Technologies such as self-deciding, fully self-driving, self-driving cars or flying vehicles will reshape the cities around us. But today, we’re going to talk about today’s cars.
Now let’s turn our eyes and perceptiveness first to the largest country in Asia and the most populous country in the World. China Industries in general, with major manufacturers swaggering pioneering technology and visionary approaches, they are setting the leap for global trends, Automotive market and especially the Chinese automotive market is a solid foundation for groundbreaking ideas and emerging projects, offering an attractive investment environment supported by high tech power and rapid economic growth. Based on the recent developments and future projections; on the supply side, thanks to cheap labor and economies of scale, the Chinese Automotive market will grow further globally. Over the past years, the Turkish market has observed a solid upwelling in the presence of Chinese electric car brands, garnering increasing attention from Turkish consumers. Industry insiders attribute this growing interest to the allure of high-quality, high-performance vehicles offered at affordable prices, coupled with comprehensive service offerings and energy-efficient features.
Personally At the beginning of the 21st century, (because of the task I undertook at the Company which I worked for namely Turkcell as a Contract &Procurement Senior Expert ) I started to recognize the perseverance and determination of Chinese people work for Chinese Companies in large-scale technical procurement and contract negotiations, bid tender processes. The era of the “made in China” epithets of the past was already coming to an end. I personally witnessed their innovative minds while negotiating the contracts. Then, in 2018, I was in China to represent Turkey upon an invitation from Peking University to contribute to the arts, world peace and science in the field of academic presentation and theatrical drama, dance performances and poetry literature at Guangzhou. During the week of my stay, I was once again impressed by the Chinese and their determination to succeed.
Türkiye has serious experience in the automotive industry and has reached a certain average in the automotive industry. With this experience and the right collaborations, Turkey adapts to new technologies very quickly. Turkey’s geopolitical position is also significant. Turkey, which is the intersection point between Asia and Europe with its geopolitical and geographical advantages and robust industrial infrastructure, is one of the world’s developing economies and one of the fastest growing countries in the world. In this respect, Turkey serves as a bridge for Chinese Automotive Company Chery to enter the European market, which is of great importance in the globalization process.” Chery allocated a budget of 100 billion yuan for R&D activities in the next 5 years. “Chery continues to invest in new generation engine technologies for research and development processes Nowadays Chery brings together smooth driving and energy saving with its innovative hybrid technology PHEV!. Chery is growing in the World.
Chery, which entered the Turkish market as an important step of its globalization strategy, quickly entered the market with 3 new SUV models in March last year. I mean in 2023. Chery’s new structuring in Turkey was met with great interest by Turkish consumers. Chery Turkey is, now among the top 10 in total automobile sales in Turkey. From the safety perspective, ADAS security system is offered as standard in all vehicles. Smart driving experiences show that the market share of electric vehicles in Turkey has increased from 1.2 percent to 6.8 percent.
The new SUV models, which were offered for sale as of March 2023, attracted attention with their high-tech equipment and designs. The models offered by Chery Turkey also looked attractive with a 5-year or 150,000 kilometer warranty. Standing out as the brand’s first global model, Chery OMODA 5 attracted attention with its 3 different hardware packages and a launch-specific turnkey price starting from 810 thousand TL. Focusing on comfort and fashion, TIGGO 7 PRO looked attractive again with its 3 separate hardware packages and a turnkey price starting from 825 thousand TL, special for the launch. The flagship of the brand, TIGGO 8 PRO, which is one of the new models in the SUV class and focuses on technology and luxury, was on the market with 2 separate hardware packages and a turnkey price starting from 1 million 50 thousand TL, special for the launch.
One year later as of March 2024 The prices are as follows;
TIGGO8 PRO Luxury 1,563thousand TL Excellent 1,693thousand TL Avant-garde 1,813thousand TL TIGGO7 PRO Comfort 1,298,thousand TL Luxury 1,423,thousand TL Excellent 1,523,thousand TL Avant-garde 1,623,thousand TL OMODA5 Comfort 1,283,thousand TL Luxury 1,373,thousand TL Excellent 1,473,thousand TL
With this introduction, let me share with you my impressions of TURCOMONEY AND CHERY TURKEY MEETING, which I transcribed separately both in Turkish and English.
So it should be perceived separately not a direct translation from one to another. Surely the fiction logic is the same for both of the articles.
The traditional iftar dinner organized by Dr Kazım KILINÇ, Chairman of K Media Group and Founding Chairman of TURCOMONEY, Turkey’s only international economy/finance magazine, took place at WOW Istanbul Hotel. The speakers of the night were from CHERY TURKEY.
TURCO MONEY AND CHERY TURKEY IFTAR MEAL IMPRESSIONS OF CIGDEM .
The Event organized by Founding President of TURCOMONEY(K Media Group President, Turcomoney-Haber1), known for its economics books, articles, economics programs broadcast on TV channels, and economics magazine publishing, Dr Kazım KILINÇ who is , Faculty Member Lecturer in Business Management Program at Esenyurt University. The Dinner hosted by 5 star Wow Hotel İstanbul.
During the course of the night, I realized that most of the Turcomoney columnists were people who had developed deep friendships with Kılınç and all of them were valuable academics like himself, who had become his old friends. The more I talked to the participating authors at a U-shaped table, the more I realized that there was a strong intellectual background and experience.
The program started just after the dinner meal is finished with the brief opening speech summarizing the value and importance of traditional dinner by Dr. Kazim Kılınç . He presented the guests of the Event. The guest speakers of the night were Ahu Turan, Vice President of Chery Turkey, and Furkan Kırkıcı, Marketing Manager of Chery Turkey.
Looking at the point in which Chery positions itself; Continuous Developing of Innovative designs, superior technology and models of the future sounds like the other name of CHERY .They are among us.
After graduating from Istanbul University, Faculty of Business Administration-(İstanbul Üniversitesi İşletme Fakültesi) Ahu Turan started her career in the automotive industry. She is a competent professional who has been continuing her career in the automotive industry for more than 20 years. She started her business life in an automotive company. During this time, Turan went through different stages in her career with various positions in different automotive brands and organizations. We met her just before dinner and we were able to talk very briefly. During her speech, She briefly introduced herself.
She bestows great prominence to sustainability and ecological awareness for the Chery brand. In this perspective, As Chery working on the projects to develop electric vehicle technologies, Turan is working on the projects to promote Chery’s zero-emission vehicles in Turkey. Promoting an environmentally friendly lifestyle by making the Chery brand a sustainable automotive brand in Turkey is also imperative for her.
Chery Turkey Vice President Ahu Turan was asked many questions. These questions included fuel consumption, carbon emissions, parts and accessories supply, warranty coverage, environmental awareness, sustainability, electric vehicles, what the future carbon footprints of batteries may be, how they see the market in the 2030s and 2050s, and artificial intelligence. Some of the questions were in the fields of Marketing Manager Furkan Kırkıcı and they answered them together.
In addition to the speeches in general, if we start talking about fuel consumption lets reflect some sector info to the reader a little bit based on my own search from Chery’s records and general industrial reports and practices.
Although the fuel consumption of Chery vehicles varies depending on model and engine type, it is generally described as economical and low. In terms of fuel efficiency performance, Chery Tiggo 7 has a 1.5-liter turbocharged engine, fuel consumption values. You can visit the direct sites for answers to questions such as how many liters per 100 kilometers in urban use or in out-of-city use. It is said to be economical in terms of fuel consumption. In this sense, Chery Tiggo 7 is considered both a performance and economical SUV. Whether it is automatic or manual transmission also changes fuel consumption. Naturally, models with automatic transmission generally have a higher consumption. If you are wondering about the fuel consumption per 100 km or carbon emission values of Chery Tiggo 8 Pro, it is best to follow Chery’s own statements. On the other hand, it was emphasized that the Chery brand attaches great importance to sustainability and ecological awareness. From this perspective, Ahu Turan mentioned that various studies have been carried out to develop electric vehicle technologies and introduce Chery’s zero-emission vehicles in Turkey. In her own words, As we mentioned before She underlined that her motto was to encourage an environmentally friendly lifestyle by making the Chery brand a sustainable automotive brand in Turkey.
İbrahim Aybar, the doyen of the automotive industry, former General Manager of Renault Mais and Turcomoney writer, also analyzed the automotive industry and put forward a broad projection for the future.
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Ahu Turan, projections about the year 2024;Optimistic in General
Although there are difficulties in terms of geopolitical risk, relative increases in raw material prices and the risk of economic fluctuations, the sector is hopeful .That was Ahu Turan, projections about the year 2024; She thinks that 2024 will close on a positive note.2023 was a year in which the demand for electric vehicles increased both globally and in Turkey.
Chery, came into the Turkish market as an imperative step of its worldwide tactic, rapidly arrived the market with 3 new SUV models and Chery’s new structuring in Turkey was met with pronounced interest by Turkish consumers.most of the experts Industry insiders ,attributes the mushrooming interest of Turkish consumers in Chinese cars to their eye-catching price-performance ratio.
They made a very dynamic entry into the market, and their advertisements and slogans were striking. They were targeting not only the present but also the future. All their slogans were adorned with references to the new generation and the technologies of the future. The most intense slogans about the future appear to be on the OMODA 5 side. If we want to give an example;
While OMODA 5 surrounds you with its sporty seats, its advanced technology makes your journey perfect! OMODA 5’s DNA comes from the future. Take action for an experience far beyond time! Here, the perception of time in the concept of beyond time is also a phenomenon that should be considered. Similarly, it is interesting that a car’s DNA comes from the future.
The other slogans are as follows. They are not that much futuristic if there are no other slogans I skipped .Enjoy the comfort while all attention is on you with the dazzling exterior design of TIGGO8 PRO! While TIGGO8 PRO fascinates with its unique design, it offers its users a privileged experience with its large interior volume and comfort! TIGGO7 PRO’s large luggage volume makes all your trips with your family more enjoyable!
In the OMODA 5, TIGGO 7 PRO and TIGGO 8 PRO models, high-efficiency 1.6-liter turbo gasoline 183 HP engines were offered with a 7-speed DCT dual-clutch automatic transmission. These three models are products that provide different driving experiences that meet different user needs.
FEW WORDS ABOUT THE TURCOMONEY FAMILY AS A FRESHNEW COLUMNIST
There comes a time to summarize the remaining of the night.
To sum up ; The governments of the countries care entrepreneurs through numerous supportive initiatives and programs, making starting and developing businesses easy. Nevertheless, to ensure triumph, you must be equipped with an innovative idea, modern technology, sufficient capital, and the determination and perseverance to overcome challenges. That’s success. In this sense, intellectual capital in a country is very treasured. A smile appeared as I grasped the intellectual capital at the dinner table. Providentially I am here. I’m glad I said
Turcomoney, which I recently joined as a writer (to write in fields such as Humanities, Economy, Politics, Culture and Arts, Education, Business World, Energy and IT sector and Academic World), has become a family that brings together two friends I have known for years. Our friend Bülent Şenver (since 1985) and Melih Bulut (1994) are the authors of the Turcomoney family. Although Şenver was not present at the meeting this time, it was nice to meet Melih Bulut again. On the occasion of this meeting, I also gained new valuable friends, most of whom are academics.
Prof. Dr., Melih Bulut
We are enthusiastic about exploring the new, creative, ground-breaking ideas and thoughts .
Our friend, esteemed scientist, Scientific Board Member of the Turkish Health Policy Institute, Prof. Dr., Melih Bulut was at dinner Our paths crossed 30 years ago during our journey in the world of Turkish politics. It was nice to meet with Melih Bulut as writers within the TURCOMONEY family. It was also very meaningful for me to sit next to each other at t dinner and talk about new ideas. I recommend readers to read his Turcomoney’s articles on the subject, which shed light on the direction of development and improvements in the health sector. His article, in which he reflects his ideas on the “health-based economy”, is quite remarkable. He points out that the health-based economy is the economy of the future. Bulut’s findings regarding the circular economy are also worth thinking about and talking about. It is also gratifying to find friends after many years on the issues I have been focusing on for years. When I met Melih Bulut, the founder of the pediatric surgery clinic at Şişli Etfal Hospital, which was the most equipped hospital in Turkey at the time. He was not yet in the position of senior chief physician at the International Hospital, nor was he even a professor yet. Time flies. He also served as chief physician at Anadolu Health Center and Yeditepe University hospitals. Prof.Dr.Melih Bulut, was also on duty of Başkent University Istanbul and Marmara Region Coordination Offices. He served as general coordinator in the establishment of Medicana International Beylikdüzü Hospital. He is now a Health Activist focused on Innovation and Artificial Intelligence who does volunteer work
Dr. Gürman Tevfik
Istanbul Esenyurt University Faculty of Business and Management Sciences / Department of Business Administration Lecturer Dr. Gürman Tevfik , was a respected intellectual bright sitting next to me on the left side at the dinner. He was the academician Dr. Gürman Tevfik , whom we also watched as an opinion leader on TV live broadcasts.
We find ourselves in a conversation about how gold backs the value of money I mean “The gold standard” as a monetary system Altın Para sistemi or standard in Turkish . We talked about many issues such as the gold currency system, exchange rate policies, protectionism policies in world trade, the abandonment of the fixed exchange rate IMF structure, the Turkish Economy, the January 24 Decisions, the release of portfolio investments in Decision No. 32. The conversation became very valuable and in-depth with the participation and contribution of Prof. Dr. Atilla Uyanık, one of the valuable names I just knew.
One of Turkey’s hot and controversial areas is the relationship between money and banking, loans, foreign trade, interest, inflation and foreign exchange. His on-the-spot observations on this subject were remarkable. In addition, he made determinations without generalizing to any investment approach. He approached each issue in its own way, especially in terms of export investment and maturities.
We know the fact that , Export-oriented investment requires long-term resources. Export financing requires short-term working capital resources. The dividing lines between these points are often omitted. It was nice to be inspired by opinion leader academician Gürman Tevfik’s ideas as well.
Prof.Dr. Atilla Uyanık
There was another person on the dinner table we build a worthy dialogue. He is a valuable name whose opinions are consulted among us, who has brought many organizations back from the brink of bankruptcy,as as an expert in the field of Bankruptcy Postponements and Concordat. He was Prof.Dr. Atilla Uyanık, Sworn-in Certified Public Accountant(YMM) , Lecturer Marmara University Faculty of Financial Sciences, Department of Insurance, who previously served as Dean, Vice Rector and Head of Department at different universities ( i.e Esenyurt Üniversitesi ) Atillla (Hoca-Teacher) is a Forensic Expert in his field like me. and another common point I recognize He started his working life while he was studying at the university. He is also a “responsible independent auditor”. He has worked as a member of the Board of Directors, Financial Advisor, management organization, consultancy and insurance on finance and financial legislation in many businesses of different scales and sizes. When the subject of tax came up, I was aware that I was like a weak whisper next to the main expert on the subject, even though I included in the conversation that I received an award in a tax-related quality project at Turkcell, where I worked for 10 years.
Although I do not personally take files from the Commercial Courts of First Instance and other Courts of Criminal Jurisdiction on this subject (Forensic Sciences), let me say that my communication with the friends acting as forensic experts is very visionary. When I took the oath of forensic sciences attorney ship at the Courthouse, my motivation was the idea that, my training would further improves. Maybe sometimes I can take the files and practice them.
Although his area of expertise is the tax side, his field is not limited to these. Economics, , Finance, Banking – Insurance, Financial Law ,Art and more. It sounds like there was another inspiring light on the table that produced ideas on many subjects.
Prof. Dr. Kenan Aydın
The Dean of Istanbul Gelişim University-Faculty of Economics, Administrative and Social Sciences, Prof. Dr. Kenan Aydın was one of the valuable person I met and build a dialogue through this dinner event. We were able to have productive conversations with Kenan Aydın in the fields of sustainability and development. Sustainability impacts of technologies in the retail sector, BRIC Countries and India, the global brand creation Model, or minerals, It is possible to talk about many topics and get insight from him. It is also possible to talk with him on areas such as Economic Structure Models of Countries That Do Not Produce a Foreign Trade Deficit, Fair Trade, Political Risk Analysis in Foreign Trade and Its Effects on the Country’s Economy. His main areas of interest are Social and Humanities Sciences, Business Marketing. Currently, He provides Global Marketing Sales Management Strategic Retail Management Strategic Marketing Management Global Marketing training to undergraduate, graduate and PhD students at the university(Istanbul Gelişim University). He supervises many theses.
A FEW WORDS ABOUT CIRCULAR AND SHARING ECONOMY
We have a lot to do to prevent the human impact of natural and climatic disasters such as excessive rainfall, drought, floods and erosion from increasing. It has become imperative to act with joint efforts to protect resources in terms of sustainability. Businesses and institutions should accelerate the transition to a circular economy as soon as possible. A sustainable industry can only happen like this. .We, as individuals, should act the same way. Circular Economy Business Models is also a subject that needs to be understood well. Last year, I made a presentation on Circular Business Model Design at the University of California Berkeley and explained how I designed my own project. I think this will be the rising star of today and the future. A Circular Business Model based on design-oriented thinking. That’s the one of the major way to reach the targets of SDG of United Nations as well.
İbrahim Aybar
The book Circular economy by İbrahim Aybar, the doyen of the automotive industry, former General Manager of Renault Mais and author of Turcomoney, which was gifted to us at the night, immediately attracted my attention. I have personally worked on applications and trainings in the form of workshops for young people and adults in modules with the title of circular economy and sustainability. It was a book that I immediately started reading parts of because it was a topic I was interested in. Car sharing models are becoming increasingly important in the world. Türkiye is also a part of this change. I realized that in the third chapter of the book, on page 73, there were information and research results regarding the automotive sector sharing economy in China are included. Since I will also cover the book specifically for the energy sector, I won’t talk about it much here, but there are very in-depth analyzes made. I gladly placed it on library shelf –current readings section.
Aybar made various evaluations about the automotive industry at the night. He also put forward various visions, strategies and predictions for the future. In his predictions, it was understood that Europeans would eventually have to take steps towards China in the automotive sector.
M.Sc. Engineer (Mechanical and Aeronautical Engineer) Aybar, who completed his doctorate in the USA, is still the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Payder Sharing Economy Association.In the past, he served as the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Automotive Distributors Association. He also served as a Member of the Board of Directors of the International Investors Association (YASED) and Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors of YASED. Aybar was very inspiring with his knowledge, visionary perspective and foresight, the light of which was felt extremely strongly. ,
Kamil Kazım Sarı
Among the questions directed to Ahu Turan at night; there were also questions pertaining to future technology, drones and other futuristic questions. One of those questions came from Kamil Kazım Sarı. I’m not going to mention them here, so the reader should wait a few days for the April issue of Turcomoney. But I can say that the question triggered my innovative imagination as well. We met Sarı towards the end of the event, and although we couldn’t chat much, I later learned that He also studied at Boğaziçi University to continue his education when he back to Turkey from US. .
There are also many areas where we will have a conversation with Kazım Sarı, the President of the Futurist Academy in the future I suppose to exchange innovative ideas and thoughts. My point of view on cars is as I mentioned in the first introduction of my article. In the cars of the future, the number of things we don’t see in the air will be very insignificant, probably like the Star Wars set in the future. The car key will be the “steam iron” of the future.
I can say that I was quite satisfied intellectually in each of the conversations we had at this dinner before and after the presentation of Chery Turkey
I would like to thank everyone who contributed to the preparation of the Event especially to Dr. Kazım KILINÇ, the Founding President of TURCOMONEY, Hayreddin Turan, the Editor-in-Chief, all of the Turcomoney columnist writers for their friendship , Ahu Turan, Vice President of Chery Turkey, Furkan Kırkıcı, Marketing Manager of Chery Turkey, for their participation and the information they conveyed
and Wow Hotel Istanbul for hosting them with their treats.
Cigdem Yorgancioglu
Energy and IT Contracts Forensic Expert,Economist
