2020 Sustainability Report
Our R&D Department improves existing technologies based on the changing needs, and rapidly creates new technologies in line with our strategy to become a global, competitive product and technology development center. As part of this strategy, we successfully create and launch new products that meet the needs of the market, and constantly improve our currently available products in line with the expectations.
Tofaş R&D Center cooperates with universities, co-designer suppliers, and engineering companies, and conduct activities within this network, which showcases Tofaş’s sustainability culture and the importance it attaches to the collaborations it formed within the scope of its sustainability goals. In 2020, support was given to the research projects focusing on the areas that were defined to have strategical priority, which were either developed by Tofaş alone or in cooperation with universities and industry.
Our 2023 targets involve training qualified human resource with a PhD, as required by the industry, in collaboration with universities and the industry, encouraging employment of researchers with a PhD, and strengthening the cooperation between universities and the industry. And as a result, TÜBİTAK made a call for Industry PhD Program No.2244. Within the scope of this program, a total of 18 PhD students were planned to be hired by Tofaş R&D Center to work on the following projects.
Furthermore, in 2020, Tofaş worked with 12 supplier companies on automobile design projects, which were supported by TÜBİTAK and H2020.
In our R&D Center, we have three main components: environmental sustainability, social sustainability, and competence. We monitor these components, i.e. milestones of our works, through long- and short-term goals.
We are aware of the fact that being able to generate knowledge and produce technology is one of the most significant factors in today’s world, especially if we want to create economic value and outpace our competitors. Accordingly, we closely monitor currently available technologies from around the world, and contribute to their development processes. To highlight the details that bring technological superiority and innovativeness together, we integrate design processes into R&D works while creating our passenger and commercial vehicles. In 2020, we focused on improving and developing Fiorino, Doblo and Egea models, and FCA R&D projects. Furthermore, we continue to work on the project that was launched in 2019 to design a new Egea model (MCA).
With its infrastructure that can compete with Europe in the field of vehicle development, Tofaş R&D Center is located on a total space of 20,110 m² and employs approximately 579 personnel in its laboratories and offices. Tofaş R&D Center, with its various laboratories equipped with high technology, is one of FCA’s largest R&D centers in Europe. When recruiting personnel to Tofaş R&D Center, we give priority to those who have a master’s or doctoral degree.
With its infrastructure that can compete with Europe in the field of vehicle development, Tofaş R&D Center is located on a total space of 20,110 m² and employs approximately 579 personnel in its laboratories and offices. Tofaş R&D Center, with its various laboratories equipped with high technology, is one of FCA’s largest R&D centers in Europe. When recruiting personnel to Tofaş R&D Center, we give priority to those who have a master’s or doctoral degree.
Of the personnel working in the R&D Center, 64 were holding a master’s degree or a PhD in 2008, which reached up to 113 in 2020. In the recruitments to be made for the R&D Center, priority is given to the employment of those who have a master’s or doctoral degree. As of 2020, the numbers of Tofaş R&D staff studying in PhD and master’s degree programs are 16 and 27, respectively.
One of the prerequisites for Turkey to increase its international recognition and develop itself, as a product development center, is to address all elements of the R&D value chain in a holistic approach. Tofaş attaches special importance to such issues as joint design development, organization of local engineering companies, and collaborations with universities. Carrying out university-industry collaboration projects in parallel with its technology development studies, Tofaş R&D Center has been involved in 137 projects with 18 different universities in the last 16 years.
In many research projects carried out at Tofaş R&D Center with the support of TÜBİTAK and the European Union, we cooperate with FCA Research Center and foreign design centers as well as faculty members of various universities. Tofaş R&D Center has increased the number of its EU supported research projects to 26 and has worked with more than 200 international project partners within the scope of these projects.
Tofaş R&D Center aims to increase the number of patent applications every year with new projects and innovative ideas that provide added value. As a result of innovative works, 38 new domestic patent applications were made and 43 patents were approved, while 19 international patent applications were made and 6 international patents were approved.In many research projects carried out at the R&D Center with the support of TÜBİTAK and the European Union, we cooperate with FCA Research Center and foreign design centers as well as faculty members of various universities. In 2020, REVOLUTION, LEVIS, and ECOFACT H2020 projects were approved, meaning that Tofaş is now a part of 26 EU research projects, and within the scope of these projects, Tofaş R&D Center worked with more than 200 international project partners. Tofaş R&D Center aims to increase the number of patent applications every year with new projects and innovative ideas that provide added value. As a result of its innovative works, Tofaş applied for 38 new patents. In 2020, In addition to intensively carrying out R&D activities for the improvement of Fiorino, Doblò and Egea models in 2020, Tofaş R&D engineers also supported other product projects of FCA besides the models we produced in Turkey. The first phase of the MCA project that involves designing a new Egea model, on the other hand, was initiated at serial production level, while the second phase is on the way. Furthermore, R&D activities were initiated to ensure that the engines used in Doblò and Fiorino models meet new emission requirements to be accepted in the following years. Besides, development works were conducted to increase the competitiveness of Doblò, Egea, and Fiorino models, which will continue in 2021 as well.
