OREANDA-NEWS. July 11, 2012. GAZ Group, a part of Russia's biggest business group Basic Element, and Mersa Otomotive have announced plans to develop sales and to set up SKD assembly of GAZelle BUSINESS light commercial vehicles in Turkey. The start of sales is planned for autumn 2012. Mersa Otomotiv will distribute and manufacture GAZ vehicles in the territory of Turkey. At present a network of dealerships and service stations is being created.

Primarily, the Turkish market will be supplied with a chassis cab version of GAZelle BUSINESS with Cummins ISF 2.8 engine. The model will be supplied in the standard (3 seats) and crew cab (7 seats) versions, with the standard and extended platforms. Further broadening of the product range is planned.

The partners pay special attention to creating an after-sales service system for the vehicles. It is planned to set up 12 sales outlets and 21 service centers in Turkey at the first stage. A group of Turkish specialists will be trained and certified at GAZ Group's headquarters in Nizhny Novgorod, Russia. A training center is also being set up in Turkey where GAZ specialists and Mersa Otomotiv certified trainers will give advanced professional training to employees from the Turkish service stations. By the start of sales a stock of spare parts will be formed in Turkey and a system of their quick delivery to the sales outlets and service stations will be established.

Alongside with establishment of the sales network, a project is being carried out to set up SKD assembly of GAZelle BUSINESS at the production facilities of Mersa Otomotiv in the region of Istanbul.

President/CEO of GAZ Group Bo Andersson: „GAZelle BUSINESS is the most popular light commercial vehicle in Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Belarus, as well as in the other CIS countries. We are sure that the Turkish customers will highly evaluate simple and reliable design, low fuel consumption, high maneuverability and low cost of ownership of GAZelle BUSINESS. In our turn we will do our best to provide the highest level of service for our customers in the local market jointly with our partner Mersa Otomotiv".