Karsan, which has become a global brand in public transportation, completed 2024 with a turnover of 296 million euros, sales of 540 electric vehicles and a 28 percent increase in profitability.
Playing a leading role in the transformation of the world's public transportation infrastructure with its electric and autonomous vehicles, Karsan has become a global brand with both its technological superiority and production capacity. Evaluating the company's performance in 2024 and sharing its 2025 goals, Karsan CEO Okan Baş said that the company, which has a history of 60 years, is among the founders of the Turkish automotive industry with nearly 2 employees as of today.
Reminding that Karsan's electric vehicle journey started with the 2018-meter e-JEST at the end of 6, Okan Baş said, “As of September 2021, we became the first and only brand in Europe whose entire product range from 6 meters to 18 meters in urban public transportation is electric. We were the first to do this, there was no other brand in Europe. Our electric vehicle sales started in 2019 with 66 units. Then we launched e-ATAK and our sales increased to 107 in just one year. When we come to 2024, our electric vehicle sales increased by 45% compared to the previous year and reached 540 units. In other words, we increased our annual sales volume from 6 to 66 units in just 540 years. As of today, we are transforming the roads with more than 3 electric vehicles in 27 countries on 1.500 continents.”
Okan Baş, who stated that they have produced a total of 2023 thousand automobiles in 2024 and 87, said, “We have started 3 shifts again in production. Our annual automobile production will continue at the level of 2028 thousand units until 55. As a company, we closed last year with a turnover of 296 million euros. Our turnover the previous year was at the level of 240 million euros. More importantly, there was an increase in our electric vehicle turnover. Our turnover there increased from 106 million euros to 52 million euros, a 161 percent increase. This strong growth in sales was directly reflected in our profitability. We increased our profit by 28 percent last year and reached 55 million euros. In the last 6 years, we alone realized 82 percent of the electric public transportation exports from Türkiye to Europe. According to European registration data, 1.258 of Türkiye's total 1.033 electric public transportation exports in this period were Karsan branded vehicles.” he spoke.
Okan Baş, stating that Karsan is the rising star of Europe, made the following assessment:
“In 2024, we achieved 8th place in the market ranking and 4,5 percent in market share in Europe. Today, there are countries in the top 5 in Europe. In fact, we are 3rd in Italy, Romania, Portugal, Switzerland, and in the top 4 in France and Austria. One of the strongest indicators of this success is our segment leadership. Karsan e-ATAK with a 29 percent share and e-JEST with a 37 percent market share achieved a very important success by maintaining their leadership in their own segments in Europe for the 5th consecutive year. As Karsan, we continue to be a pioneering player on a global scale by going beyond Europe. We are the first and only European company operating in the field of electric public transportation in North America. Today, we have 183 e-JEST vehicles in Canada and the USA. Another special aspect of 2024 was our right-hand drive market entries. We delivered our first vehicles to Japan. Moreover, we did not limit ourselves to Japan; we also added the UK to our target markets. Similarly, we have reached a total of 10 autonomous projects in 11 countries in Europe and America. In addition, we continue to focus on the electric transformation of public transportation in Türkiye. We continued to be the pioneer of the electric transformation in the domestic market by reaching 68 electric vehicle fleets last year. In the second half of 2025, we will deliver a total of 62 e-ATAs to Kahramanmaraş, Mersin and Gaziantep.”
Karsan CEO Okan Baş, who emphasized that their 2025 goal as Karsan is to be the main player in the electric public transportation market, said, “In 2025, we will carry our power in electric mobility even further. Our goal is to grow by 30%, sell 700 electric vehicles and reach a fleet of 2.200 electric vehicles worldwide. With this growth, we expect to increase our total turnover to 350-400 million euros and our electric vehicle turnover to 200-250 million euros. However, it is not only numbers that are critical for us, but also to pioneer technologies that shape the future. 2025 will be a year in which we will diversify our product range in electric, autonomous and hydrogen, expand our market potential and present innovations that will make a difference in the sector. Despite having a full product range, we never stop. Because in order to remain a leader in the sector and always be one step ahead, you have to constantly develop and prepare for the future. Therefore, 2025 will also be a year for Karsan to focus on new products and advanced technologies. "It will be a year in which we invest," he said.
Okan Baş, who stated that 2024 will be a year in which Karsan will not only see growth and innovation but also receive global appreciation, continued his words as follows:
“Last week, Frost & Sullivan, one of the world’s most prestigious research and consulting firms, awarded Karsan the ‘2025 Company of the Year’ award. This award is the greatest proof that Karsan’s pioneering work in Europe, especially in the field of electric minibuses and autonomous vehicles, is being recognized worldwide. The number of international awards we have won in the last three years has reached 31. This is a clear indication that Karsan is rapidly progressing towards becoming not only a regional player but also a brand with a say on a global scale.”
Emphasizing that they achieved change with 3 different focal points, Okan Baş continued as follows:
“As Karsan, we are primarily present in public transportation. We work in the field of urban public transportation. We want to embrace all new technologies in this field. There are 3 technological areas. Electric, hydrogen fueled and autonomous. We have always worked on these 3 areas since we first started this business. Today, there are 150 thousand electric vehicles in urban public transportation in the world. This number will increase to 2030 thousand between 2035-300. This is a serious growth signal and a serious market potential. It clearly shows us that we are in the right place. There are 2 areas within this. Electric and hydrogen. We believe that hydrogen fueled vehicles will constitute 10 percent of the public transportation market in the future. This is in lower numbers today but will grow faster in the future. In this sense, we will be present in both electric, hydrogen fueled and autonomous vehicles. While doing this, as Karsan, we aim to always be one step ahead in order to create value and difference.”
