The factory started as DA-TA (Demir Araba – Tahta Araba, i.e. Iron Vehicle – Wooden Vehicle) in 1914 in Adapazarı, originally producing horse-drawn vehicles, churns, beehives and threshing machines. The Turkish Agricultural Hardware Institution purchased the plant in 1944, renaming it Sakarya Alat-ı Ziraiye (SAZ) (i.e. Sakarya Agricultural Equipments). The plant had its own thermoelectric plant, supplying electricity to the factory and Sakarya area.
In 1962, the company started importing Ford tractors. Six years later, they had moved on from importing and aftersales to manufacturing them under a license, achieving 65% domestic components rate in production. Later, in 1979, they started producing Austrian Steyr tractors under a similar agreement.
The company was renamed Başak in 1996 and started making tractors under their own brand. Başak joined Sanko group in 2012,[1] now known as ASKO Holding.
In early 2024, it was announced that RostSelMash had sold all shares of Versatile (Buhler Industries) to Basak Traktor, a subsidiary of ASKO Holdings.[3]
