Turkish dealer to open first Cat Rental Store

Turkish Caterpillar dealer Borusan Makina will open its first Cat Rental Store before the end of the year. The branch will be in Istanbul.

Hasan Tahsin Guven, Istanbul regional manager for Borusan Makina, told IRN that the company started its rental division in 2006 and that it had grown steadily sinde then, reaching a turnover of around €6 million last year.

"We will start the Cat Rental Store in Istanbul at the end of this year", said Mr Guven, "This is a unique concept in Turkey. There are no rental stores in Turkey like this."

The rental operation has 11 branches - four regional locations in Istanbul, Ankara, Adana and Izmir, and seven sub-regional locations. It has a fleet of 200 units with a replacement value of around €25 million. The newly appointed manager of the used equipment and rental business is Mr Bihan Elmaci.

Although the current fleet is dominated by Cat equipment, Mr Guven said the plan was to add allied equipment such as pumps, compressors and aerial platforms "depending on customer demand."

Mr Guven said the rental business had been growing well since it was established four years ago, although the rate of growth slowed last year when the company temporarily halted investment in the fleet.

He said, however, that Turkey's construction market had recovered quickly and that this year "our rental business is growing fast."

Borusan Makina, which is part of the large Borusan group, has represented Cat in Turkey since 1994 and is also a Cat dealer in Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan.