Auto market shrinks 22 percent in April

ISTANBUL

The combined sales of passenger cars and light commercial vehicles declined by 22.3 percent in April from a year ago to around 76,000 units, the data from the Automotive Distributors’ and Mobility Association (ODMD) showed on May 3.

This contrasted with the 57 percent and 31 percent expansions in the market in January and February, respectively. Total vehicle sales rose 5.7 percent annually in March.

In April, passenger car sales plunged nearly 21 percent from a year ago to more than 61,000, after rising 10 percent in the previous months.

The annual decline in light commercial vehicle sales was 28.6 percent to 14,500 units, which came on top of the 8 percent contraction in this market.

The sales in the electric vehicle market also lost some momentum in April. Last month, a total of 6,446 electric vehicles were sold on the local market, marking a 125 percent increase from a year ago. Electric vehicles accounted for 10.7 percent of all vehicle sales in April.

The country’s first electric carmaker, Togg, delivered 3,003 vehicles in April, while the company’s deliveries in the first four months of 2024 reached 7,148.

Tesla delivered only 27 EVs last month, while it delivered 402 cars in January-April.

From January to April, a total of 23,102 electric vehicles were sold in Türkiye, pointing to a 205 percent increase compared with the same period of last year.

In a report released earlier this week, HSBC said that despite a strong start in vehicle sales in the first quarter, it expects a sequential weakening in the remainder of the year.

Post COVID-19 disruptions that hurt vehicle availability are largely over, as well as pent-up demand, investment demand, and pull-forward demand, the report argued.