Citroen GM upbeat on Turkish auto market this year

ISTANBUL

Most people from the auto industry expect the Turkish market to contract this year, but an executive from Citroen, a brand of Stellantis, is rather more optimistic about car sales, citing pent-up demand.

Many experts forecast that car sales will be around 800,000 units in 2024. Last year, the combined sales of passenger cars and light commercial vehicles grew more than 57 percent from 2022 to 1.23 million units, according to data from the Automotive Distributors’ and Mobility Association (ODMD).

However, Selen Alkım, general manager of Citroen Türkiye, is more optimistic about the local market outlook, predicting that sales may be around 1.1 million units this year.

Alkım argued that sales will be supported by the delayed demand from the pandemic.

“There is some unsatisfied demand. According to our calculations, there are around 300,000 people who cannot buy a car or who need to buy a car… Demand for those cars has not yet been met,” Alkım said.

Sales fell in April but still signal that the size of the market could reach somewhere between 1 million and 1.1 million this year, according to Alkım.

“We expect sales to be around 90,000 in May,” she said.

Some 76,000 passenger cars and light commercial vehicles were sold in April, down 22.3 percent from a year ago. Passenger car sales were down 21 percent to around 22,000 units.

Citroen sold 20,000 vehicles in the Turkish market in the first four months of 2024, according to Alkım.

The company aims to sell 67,000 vehicles, including 20,000 commercial vehicles, this year, she said, noting that they sold 63,000 vehicles in 2023.