THE FIFTH-YEAR JOURNEY OF TOFAŞ
would yield the first graduates in 2010. The schools in which the Fiat Training Laboratories were set up through the support of Tofaş were as follows: Şişli Industrial Vocational High School, Samandıra Industrial Vocational High School, and Bağcılar Industrial Vocational High School in Istanbul; Güvercinlik Industrial Vocational High School in Ankara; Adana Motor Vocational High School in Adana; Gaziemir Industrial Vocational High School in Izmir; Hürriyet Industrial Vocational High School in Bursa; Antalya Industrial Vocational High School in Antalya; Samsun Industrial Vocational High School in Samsun; Kocaeli Industrial Vocational High School in Kocaeli; and Burhanettin Yıldız Industrial Vocational High School in Diyarbakır. Young graduates of these laboratories were employed both by Tofaş and by dealers and other institutions in the ensuing years. The main goal was being achieved and the number of skilled and trained young workers was increasing at the factories. The personnel that began working at different departments of the factory in Bursa were noticing the importance of education as they were applying the know-how they acquired at the labs to real life. As Kemal Özcan, who works at Tofaş’s Paint Production Directorate T.Ü.T. 311-Putty line: The educational level of the Fiat Laboratory is very high; all kinds of opportunities are given for professional education. My training at the Fiat Laboratory and internship at Birmot has allowed me to get to know the automotive sector well and accelerated my adaptation period to Tofaş. 9
THE NEW FIAT VEHICLES
Fiat Bravo was one of the new Fiat vehicles traversing the roads in Turkey in 2008. Following the launch in February, it came to be sold on the Turkish market. The uptrend Fiat initiated with the Grande Punto and Linea continued with the New Fiat Bravo. It was very competitive in the compact segment. Fiat Bravo would further pull up the perception of the brand as the model that completed the product range. Recognized as the “legend” of Fiat by most people, Fiat 500 went on the Turkish market as of October. Introduced to the public at the 2008 Istanbul Autoshow, 500 had been chosen the automobile of the year in 2008.
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Tofaş Gazette, 146/2016.
T H E 2 0 0 0 s : T O FA Ş O N T H E R I S E A G A I N