Why does BMC stand for British Motor Company?

original name British Motor Company When the brand was established, BMC already existed abroad. BMC, which is 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 operating in different sectors such as various commercial vehicles, trucks, buses, military vehicles and defense industry products. History of BMC Let’s take a closer look.

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

We call it a common capital in those years, but it is said that the majority of it was connected 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 down. 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 its operations as part of the BMW brand.

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

Ergun Özakat’s name is mentioned in many places as the founder. He was educated in the field of automobile and mechanical engineering in England, and when BMC is mentioned, he is naturally the first person that comes to mind. In those periods, the trucks produced localization rate is around 10%. The Özakat family manages to increase this rate up to 30%. But how?

Normally, if 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 prepared They also distribute these documentation to manufacturers in the country.. And so many parts are starting to be produced locally.

BMC established the first automotive foundry in Turkey in 1973. A few years later, the first diesel engine started to be produced in BMC facilities.

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

Also in 1983 volvo Yavuz Truck, Turkey’s first turbo-engined commercial vehicle series, produced in partnership with Yavuz Truck, is coming to the market. To refer to this partnership, the letter “V” on the truck is designed the same as the letter in Volvo’s logo.

In 1989, with all its shares It is transferred to Çukurova Holding. This is how the adventure of becoming a completely domestic company begins.

In the first years of its establishment, BMC, based in Izmir, produced tractors with the Nuffield, Leyland, Austin and Morris brands, and pickup trucks with the Leyland, Morris and Austin brands.

While diesel engines were preferred over gasoline 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. In the last two years, BMC, which has the ability to develop and produce in every vehicle class, had to suspend production after encountering different payment problems and financial difficulties.

BMC received ISO certification in 1995. This quality certificate is very important for perfection in the automotive industry.

In 1996, it produces the Professional truck. This truck, whose intellectual and industrial rights belong entirely to Turks, is our national pride. Initially These trucks are sold under the ERF brand in the UK, later marketed as BMC Professional. It carried out 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 considered to be sold under the ERF brand in Canada, but these plans were not realized, probably 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 was working on a vehicle like this but gave up the project.

BMC has also experienced changes in engine options.

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

Among her suitors Iveco and Volkswagen Major automobile manufacturers such as have been found, but no progress has been made in this regard as of 2014. Regardless of the brand name, BMC is considered an important brand in terms of its contribution to the economy, job opportunities in the Izmir region and other regions, technological opportunities and many more.

While everything was going well, things went wrong.

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

It is stated that salaries to employees were not paid for months, and when you look at the news, you can understand this protracted process. Naturally a production process in progress It is also happening in the company.

to present day has produced nearly 300 thousand vehicles until, has thousands of employees and states that its contribution to Turkey is 10 million dollars. Even though it continues its journey as a completely local company, there remains a name brought by the partnership.

The 50.1% shares belonging to 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% shares belong to Qatar Armed Forces. belonging