Karsan

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Karsan Otomotiv Sanayi ve Ticaret A.Ş.

Type	Public
Founded	1966
Headquarters	Bursa, Turkey
Key people	Mehmet Can Karabağ — CEO
Industry	Manufacturing
Products	Automobiles & light commercial vehicles
Revenue	unknown
Employees	719
Website	www.karsan.com.tr

Karsan (Turkish: Karsan Otomotiv Sanayii ve Ticaret A.Ş.) is a Turkish light commercial vehicles manufacturer.

Karsan was founded in 1966 in Bursa, Turkey to produce light commercial vehicles. Koç Group assumed management control of the company between 1979-1998. Later on Kıraça Group took over the company in 1998 by acquiring the majority of the shares under the leadership of İnan Kıraç.

Karsan, owned by 100% Turkish capital, produces and sells Peugeot light commercial vehicles under a licensing agreement with Peugeot as well as Ducato minibus models for Tofaş - FIAT. In addition to these, Karsan produces and sells special vehicles such as ambulances, taxis, patrol vehicles and 4x4’s.

In 1998, Karsan started building its new factory in Akcalar with an investment of 70 million USD, in order to take advantage of the LCV market potential and renew its technology. Production began in its new factory in October 1999. Majority of the investment that raised the annual capacity to 25,000 units in two shifts was financed through the company’s own resources. In 2001, an additional 2 million USD expanded the capacity of the paint shop to 40,000 vehicles in two shifts. Thus, with minor additional investments the total factory capacity can be brought up from 25,000 to 40,000 on demand. The new factory, situated on a total of 200.000 m² of land with 71,000 m² covered area, is 30 kilometers from the center of Bursa. This factory, designed to produce any type of vehicle from cars to trucks, is equipped with the latest technology and production lines, and can produce any combination of vehicles with minimum adjustments.