Dongfeng to invest $250M in new car plant in Turkey

Shanghai, September 3 (Gasgoo.com) China's third-largest carmaker Dongfeng Motor is to invest $250 million to launch a production facility in Turkey with an annual capacity of 52,000 units, Turkey's government investment agency said on Wednesday.

Turkey's Investment Support and Promotion Agency said in a statement that feasibility studies for the location are being carried out and construction should begin in the first quarter of 2010.

The plant is expected to employ 1,000 staff. On completion, the plant would build cars for Turkish market as well as export cars to Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

It also reported that Korean steel manufacturer Posco would make an initial greenfield investment in Turkey of $24 million to produce annually 170,000 million tonnes of flat steel, to be used primarily for the automotive sector. That plant will start operation in 2010.

Hyundai Assan, a joint venture between carmaker Hyundai and Turkey's Kibar Holding, announced on Wednesday it had chosen Turkey as the site for production of its new i20 series.