Otokar, Turkey’s leading bus manufacturer, launched its new 10 meter midi coach ULYSO at Busworld recently. During the press conference organised at the Otokar stand in Busworld, its General Manager Serdar Görgüç introduced ULYSO, which is set to raise the competition bar higher in the coach market. “With our new medium size coach, we are taking a more assertive position in Europe” he said.
Otokar, a Koç Group company, showed its new buses at Busworld Europe (Kortrijk) 2017. It presented five vehicles during the exhibition that hosted 350 exhibitors from 33 countries. With buses currently used in more than 40 countries, particularly in Europe, Otokar held the European premier of its new medium size coach ULYSO, designed to meet industry expectations, during Busworld.
ULYSO will increase passenger satisfaction
Mr. Serdar Görgüç expressed that VECTIO T, the company’s first vehicle in the 10-meter class, has been one of the most popular coaches in intercity and tourism transportation since its debut. The operators’ priority is to achieve efficient transportation with advantageous operating costs and so they renewed VECTIO T medium size coach considering the users’ needs. “We developed our ULYSO T, also in the 10-meter segment, to provide more comfort, higher passenger capacity, and optimum operating costs. With a powerful engine, low fuel consumption, high level comfort delivering quality, low operating costs, ULYSO T will increase passenger and driver comfort and operators’ earnings.
Our expansion in Europe continues
At the press conference, Mr. Görgüç commented on the European bus and coach industry, “In the first eight months of the year, markets such as Turkey, United Kingdom, Ireland, France saw significant shrinking while some other markets like Germany, Spain and Italy recorded growth. Affected by the shrinking domestic market, Turkish bus and coach manufacturers accelerated their international presence. In the last four years, Turkey’s bus exports increased 39% and in the first eight months of 2017, the increase was 8%.”
Görgüç said that Otokar has strengthened its position in the existing markets, thanks to its broad product range, and extensive sales and after sales network. “In the first three quarters of 2017, Otokar sold 1 out of every 3 medium size buses in Turkey, maintaining its leader position in this segment in the Turkish market. In the first half of the year, we increased our turnover 39% year on year, and reached US$ 264 million, with exports making up 21% of our revenues. In Europe, our priority markets have been France, which remains the first export market, followed by Italy, Spain and Belgium. Navigo being a best seller in its category in the last two years, our TERRITO and KENT buses have also been models preferred by many major fleets” he disclosed.
Serdar Görgüç reminded that Otokar continues to work on alternative fuels such as electric, as well as smart mobility solutions on a global scale, “In the last decade we have allocated 4% of our revenues to R&D expenditure. Looking at the future trends in automotive we see more environment-friendly, safer and smarter mobility systems stand out. As the company to realise many firsts such as introducing Turkey’s first hybrid bus and first electric bus, we wanted to be a pioneer in safe and smart mobility systems as well. Unfortunately, every year 183,000 traffic accidents happen in Turkey alone, resulting in deaths or injuries, and 89% of these accidents are caused by driver faults. We intend to help decrease these rates with our Smart Buses. Therefore, we, together with our business partners, are taking active part in the CoMoSef project within the scope of the EU-funded Euroka Celtic-Plus program. In the project that 21 organizations from 7 countries participate, we, as the Turkish consortium, became the only company to conduct the “on vehicle demo”. The fact that the CoMoSef project, which we have provided significant contributions, won the EU Celtic-Plus Innovation Award has made us very happy” he concludes. The project envisions vehicles to communicate with one another via roadside units through the smart traffic systems and devices of the future, improving road safety with real time information.
New concept in cities
Otokar’s 8.4-meter bus designed for congested cities and small roads was also exhibited at Busworld as an inner city concept for European market. With its full low floor and front engine, the inner city solution is already receiving orders in the Turkish market.