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I found an interesting report of Tofaş where a timeline of their R&D center is shown. The pdf can be found here.
According to this timeline (page 12), if I'm correctly understanding:
- the R&D activity began in 1994 (so, where were engineered the 1988+ Dogan/Sahin/Kartal then?
)
- had only a production supporting role until their involvement in the Brazilian-led Project 178, when they played a more important role in qualification and reliability tests (the same role they had during the development of the 1st-gen Doblò [223])
- was tasked with developing facelifts and partial re-engineering of the above mentioned models (the Siena becoming the Albea, and the facelifted 2006+ Doblò [223])
- began playing the main role in new vehicle development with the Linea and subsequently with the Sevel Minicargo vans (mainly taking care of prototype vehicles production)
- was tasked with full (or main?) vehicle development starting with the 2nd-gen Doblò [263], and then the facelifts of the Linea and the same Doblò [263] and its derivatives for Opel/Vauxhall and Ram
- in the case of the Ægea project, the timeline marks a further improvement to 'product & technology development'.
On page 20, a graph shows Tofaş' workshare in new projects, moving from about 35% in 2009 (Doblò 2) to 50% in 2015-16 (Ægea) and exceeding 50% after 2020 (forecast, since this report is dated October 2018). Anyway, their corporate site states that the intellectual property rights for Doblò & twins, Minicargo vans and Ægea cars belong to them:
2005 - Fiat, PSA Peugeot, Citroen, and Tofaş enter into an agreement to develop and manufacture a new “MiniCargo” light commercial vehicle, all of the intellectual property rights to which belong to Tofaş.
[...]
2006 - By carrying out the product-development activities of the Doblò update project, Tofaş acquires the intellectual and industrial property rights to that vehicle.
[...]
2014 - [...] Tofaş R&D begins working on a two-year project to develop sedan, hatchback, and station wagon versions of its new Egea series. The investments undertaken for these new models, whose intellectual property rights belong to Tofaş (which is also responsible for the series’ development), are notable as the biggest in the history of the Turkish automotives industry.
About the Egea/Tipo, Fiat EMEA-Head Luca Napolitano stated during the presentation at the Istanbul AutoShow 2015 that it was "styled in Italy and engineered in Turkey by Tofaş R&D centre".
The question is then: what makes a car's origin most? The styling or the engineering? Or both? And in that case, should it be considered as EU-origin or the brand's nationality wins?
About the Minicargo vans, there is an interesting interview dated October 2007 to then Citroen president Gilles Michel for Just Auto, who - surprisingly - reports the French origin of the project:
“We went to see Fiat and they found the project very attractive,” said Michel. Both Fiat and PSA submitted designs for the MiniCargo, but the PSA design was selected. “They put on the table their own vision of the project and the volumes and together it did make sense.”
[...]
And it was Fiat’s crucial input in finding both the platform and the production site that allowed MiniCargo to see the light of day. [...] “Fiat bought in Tofaş which is a very nice fit and this is what made the project possible[...]"
So, this appears to be a total collaboration between French, Italian and Turkish engineers: the French provided the idea and the styling, the Italians the chassis and powertrain and the Turkish engineers realized the van with the provided "ingredients": who wins the flag?
According to this timeline (page 12), if I'm correctly understanding:
- the R&D activity began in 1994 (so, where were engineered the 1988+ Dogan/Sahin/Kartal then?
)- had only a production supporting role until their involvement in the Brazilian-led Project 178, when they played a more important role in qualification and reliability tests (the same role they had during the development of the 1st-gen Doblò [223])
- was tasked with developing facelifts and partial re-engineering of the above mentioned models (the Siena becoming the Albea, and the facelifted 2006+ Doblò [223])
- began playing the main role in new vehicle development with the Linea and subsequently with the Sevel Minicargo vans (mainly taking care of prototype vehicles production)
- was tasked with full (or main?) vehicle development starting with the 2nd-gen Doblò [263], and then the facelifts of the Linea and the same Doblò [263] and its derivatives for Opel/Vauxhall and Ram
- in the case of the Ægea project, the timeline marks a further improvement to 'product & technology development'.
On page 20, a graph shows Tofaş' workshare in new projects, moving from about 35% in 2009 (Doblò 2) to 50% in 2015-16 (Ægea) and exceeding 50% after 2020 (forecast, since this report is dated October 2018). Anyway, their corporate site states that the intellectual property rights for Doblò & twins, Minicargo vans and Ægea cars belong to them:
Quote From: Tofas
2005 - Fiat, PSA Peugeot, Citroen, and Tofaş enter into an agreement to develop and manufacture a new “MiniCargo” light commercial vehicle, all of the intellectual property rights to which belong to Tofaş.
[...]
2006 - By carrying out the product-development activities of the Doblò update project, Tofaş acquires the intellectual and industrial property rights to that vehicle.
[...]
2014 - [...] Tofaş R&D begins working on a two-year project to develop sedan, hatchback, and station wagon versions of its new Egea series. The investments undertaken for these new models, whose intellectual property rights belong to Tofaş (which is also responsible for the series’ development), are notable as the biggest in the history of the Turkish automotives industry.
About the Egea/Tipo, Fiat EMEA-Head Luca Napolitano stated during the presentation at the Istanbul AutoShow 2015 that it was "styled in Italy and engineered in Turkey by Tofaş R&D centre".
The question is then: what makes a car's origin most? The styling or the engineering? Or both? And in that case, should it be considered as EU-origin or the brand's nationality wins?
About the Minicargo vans, there is an interesting interview dated October 2007 to then Citroen president Gilles Michel for Just Auto, who - surprisingly - reports the French origin of the project:
Quote From: Just Auto
“We went to see Fiat and they found the project very attractive,” said Michel. Both Fiat and PSA submitted designs for the MiniCargo, but the PSA design was selected. “They put on the table their own vision of the project and the volumes and together it did make sense.”
[...]
And it was Fiat’s crucial input in finding both the platform and the production site that allowed MiniCargo to see the light of day. [...] “Fiat bought in Tofaş which is a very nice fit and this is what made the project possible[...]"
So, this appears to be a total collaboration between French, Italian and Turkish engineers: the French provided the idea and the styling, the Italians the chassis and powertrain and the Turkish engineers realized the van with the provided "ingredients": who wins the flag?