Car sales may reach around 500,000 in first half

ISTANBUL

The combined sales of passenger cars and light commercial vehicles are expected to surpass 435,000 in the first five months, a record level for this period ever.

In May alone, sales are forecast to be above 100,000 cars, according to the people from the industry.

“The record sales for the month of May were registered in 2016 with 93,904 units. On average, 66,000 cars are sold in May normally. If the expectations materialize for May, the sale of 110,000 units in May will mark the highest figure for this month on record,” said Hüsamettin Yalçın, general manager of Cardata.

Most of the carmakers have overcome the supply and logistics problems, he added.

However, people from the industry voiced caution for the second half of the year due to uncertainties in the market.

Experts stress that the reason behind the strong demand in the market is that people view cars as an investment because of the negative real interests.

They said the auto market might not see a record number of sales of 1 million cars this year, citing the expected rise in exchange rates in the wake of the elections and problems regarding access to financing as possible reason as to why the this expectations may not be fulfilled.

Companies, including Renault, Opel, Fiat and Mercedes Benz forecast that car sales could be between 800,000 to 900,000 this year.

Some 334,000 passenger cars and light commercial vehicles were sold in Türkiye in Jan-uary-April, marking a robust 57.3 percent increase from the same period of 2022.

Passenger car sales grew nearly 56 percent on an annual basis to 253,000.

In April alone, the passenger car market expanded 70 percent year-on-year to 77,400, according to the data from the Automotive Distributors’ and Mobility Association (ODMD).