Auto market expands by 31 percent in February

ISTANBUL

The combined sales of passenger cars and light commercial vehicles increased by 30.6 percent in February from a year ago to a total of 106,000 vehicles, according to the data from the Automotive Distributors’ and Mobility Association (ODMD).

This was slower than the annual increase of 57 percent in sales in January but on a monthly basis the number of vehicles sold rose 33 percent. It also marked an all-time high vehicles sales for the month of February on record.

Despite the elevated prices, some factors played a role in the robust demand, according to experts. Disabled people bought cars to benefit from the special consumption tax exemptions and those purchased by car rental fleets, they said.

Passenger car sales grew 39.7 percent year-on-year to around 83,000 last month after this market expanded by 72 percent in January when more than 64,000 passenger cars were sold.

“There was strong demand from disabled people for vehicles in the past two months,” said Alp Gülan, the board chair of Gülan Otomotiv.

Due to the expectations that Türkiye will have a good tourism season this year, sales to car rental fleets also picked up, Gülan added.

The economic policies the government will follow after the March local elections will set the course for the auto market in the coming months, he said.

Light commercial vehicle (LCV) sales were up 6.6 percent last month from a year ago to around 24,000.

The electric vehicles (EV) market was still vibrant.

Last month a total of 5,799 EVs were sold, marking a strong 312 percent year-on-year increase. EVs corresponded to 7 percent of all vehicles sold in Türkiye in February.

In this segment, Togg was the market leader. The country’s indigenous EV maker delivered 1,202 vehicles, while Tesla sold only 75 cars in February.

In the first two months of 2024, EV sales increased by 295 percent from the same period of last year to 9,772 units. EVs captured a 6.7 percent share in total vehicles sales.

In the January-February period, Türkiye’s auto market expanded by 41 percent with total sales reaching 185,691.

Passenger car sales rose more than 52 percent annually to 146,318, while light commercial vehicle sales were up 9.8 percent to 39,373, according to ODMD data.

Fiat was the best-selling brand in Türkiye in the first two months of the year. The carmaker sold a total of 25,284 vehicles, including passenger cars and LCVs in January-February.

Renault ranked second at 22,908, followed by Ford at 13,427.