Turkey's Karsan eyes Europe exports with new bus

Aslan Batur ISTANBUL - Hürriyet

Turkish vehicle maker Karsan’s J10 minibuses, which were the company’s top miinibus product in the market until the launch of Jest, are seen in this photo.

Turkish vehicle maker Karsan has manufactured a new minibus called “Jest” with an eye to launching exports to Europe.

Karsan, which has been manufacturing commercial vehicles for big brands like Renault, Peugeot, Citroen and Hyundai for many years, is now looking at the European market with its exclusive Jest, which was produced with an investment of 50 million euros.

The company has been in competition with minibuses such as the J9 and the J10, which was renewed in 2010, for 29 years. It now aims to sell 2,500 new Jest models in both the midibus and minibus versions.

They aimed to complete the deal in Europe by 2015, Karsan CEO Murat Selek said. The company will also open an Italy-based sale-marketing office, he said. “We anticipate a fast increase in minibus sales in Europe.”

Karsan Marketing General Manager Vançın Kitapçı said the Jest had drawn demands from potential customers because it was designed to carry only people, in contrast to the alternatives, which were usually transformed from freightage vehicles.

Wi-fi minibuses

Kitapçı said they would start selling Jests to dealers at a price of between 95,000 Turkish Liras and 105,000 liras next week.

Kitapçi also said they had reached an agreement with Vodafone to provide wireless Internet on the minibuses. The mobile Internet will be offered to passengers free of charge, while Karsan will pay the fee without passing on the cost to minibus users, he said.