Demand for new cars strong, says trade group

ANKARA

The current level of demand for new cars is strong and very pleasing, the head of the Authorized Automotive Dealers Association (OYDER) has said.

“The mood in the industry could be summarized as: ‘Wish we had more cars at hand so that we could boost sales,’” Murat Şahsuvaroğlu told state-run Anadolu Agency.

He predicted that local vehicle sales could be between 600,000 to 650,000 units this year.

“If we look at the sales in January and performance in February, sales could even hit 700,000 units,” Şahsuvaroğlu said.

The latest market data from the Automotive Distributors’ Association (ODD) showed that vehicle sales surged nearly 90 percent on an annual basis to 27,300 units in January.

Passenger car sales jumped some 101 percent in the first month of 2020 from a year ago to stand at around 22,000 units.

The rise in commercial vehicle sales in January was 55 percent on an annual basis to 5,300 units.

Demand for cars are strong, surpassing production, Şahsuvaroğlu said, adding that local carmakers could adapt their production according to demand.

“Nobody had predicted that interest rates could drop to such low levels and demand would have been so strong. Thus, some problems in the supply of imported vehicles are normal,” he noted.

There are no supply problems for the cars produced in Turkey, Şahsuvaroğlu said.