Chinese carmakers making inroads into Turkish market

ANKARA

Chinese carmakers are increasing their share in the Turkish market, boosting sales by nearly tenfold since the start of
the year.

Last year, two Chinese brands MG and DFSK sold a total of 3,456 cars in Türkiye. However, in the four months into 2023, sales of Chinese cars leaped 35 percent compared with the whole of 2022.

According to data from the Automotive Distributors’ and Mobility Association (ODMD), in the January-April period, 4,994 Chinese cars were sold on the local market, which corresponded to a tenfold increase from the same period of 2022.
In the first four months of last year, only 454 Chinese cars were sold in Türkiye.

New Chinese carmakers stepped into the local markets which was one of the main reasons behind the increase in Chinese car sales.

Chery, Skywell and Leapmotor introduced their vehicles to the Turkish market for the first time in 2023.

In the first four months of this year, the best-selling Chinese brand was MG, with 2,034 car sales, followed by Chery at 2,030.

Skywell and DFSK sold 312 and 238 cars, respectively. In the same period, 80 Leapmotor cars were sold in Türkiye, according to data from the ODMD.

In the January-April period, Türkiye’s car market expanded more than 57 percent from a year ago.

Nearly 334,000 passenger cars and light commercial vehicles were sold during this period.

Passenger car sales grew 55.7 percent year-on-year to 253,000, while the annual increase in light commercial vehicle sales was 63 percent to 81,000.

In April alone, total vehicle sales exhibited an annual increase of 63 percent to 98,000. Last month, more than 77,000 passenger cars were sold in Türkiye, translating into a 70 percent rise from a year ago. Light commercial vehicle sales grew 40 percent on an annual basis to 20,280.

The Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK) separately reported yesterday that more than 179,000 motor vehicles were registered in April, up from 119,000 vehicles a year ago.

Passenger cars accounted for nearly 38 percent of new registrations, while the share of motorcycles was 45.2 percent. Small trucks and trucks made up of 22 percent and 15 percent in total, respectively.

There was a total of 27.1 million registered motor vehicles in Türkiye as of the end of April, according to TÜİK.