Automotive market expanded 6 percent last year

ISTANBUL

The combined sales of passenger cars and light commercial vehicles (LCV) increased by 6.2 percent in 2022 from the previous year to more than 780,000.

Passenger car sales grew 5.5 percent to 593,000, data from the Automotive Distributors’ and Mobility Association (ODMD).

The light commercial vehicle market expanded by 8.6 percent as a total of 191,000 LCVs were sold in Türkiye last year.

In December alone, total vehicle sales leaped 85 percent from December 2021 to reach 115,000.

The ODMD reported that passenger sales rose by 99.2 percent year-on-year last month to around 87,000, while the LCV sales grew 55.2 percent to 28,500.

The combined sales of passenger cars and LCVs last month were, however, 0.8 percent lower than the 10-year December average.

In December, 1,519 electric vehicles (EVs) were sold on the local market. Even though sales soared 252 percent from the same month of 2021, EV sales accounted for only 1.8 percent of all vehicle sales in Türkiye.

In the whole of 2022, EV sales amounted to 7,7300, showing an increase of 171 percent from the previous year.

As domestically produced Togg is preparing to enter the market this year, electric vehicle sales are expected to rise to 40,000 in 2023.

Hybrid vehicle sales grew 30 percent last year from 2021 to 64,387, accounting for 11 percent of all vehicle sales, while in December alone, sales increased 104 percent year-on-year to 8,794.

The country’s large automotive industry is optimistic that, despite challenges, it may increase its export revenues this year compared to 2022.

The automotive sector aims to generate $34 billion in exports this year, up from $31 billion in 2022, said the Automotive Industry Exporters’ Association (OİB) earlier this week.

The industry managed to increase its export revenues by 5.7 percent last year from 2021, even though it faced strong headwinds, including the troubles in Europe’s economy, its main export market, the chip shortage, elevated inflation, higher energy costs and the looming recession risks in the global economy, OİB head Baran Çelik said.