France largest export market for Turkish passenger car makers

ISTANBUL

Passenger cars manufactured in Türkiye were shipped to 80 countries, generating $5.5 billion in export revenues in the first half of 2024, with France being the largest export market, according to data from the Uludağ Automotive Industry Exporters’ Association.

The automotive industry's sales increased by 3.5 percent compared to the same period last year, with passenger car exports accounting for 31.9 percent of its overall exports of $17.8 billion.

Regarding the countries where passenger cars were sold to, France ranked first in Türkiye’s automotive sector with $1.17 billion in sales.

Italy was recorded as the second country with $710.3 million in sales, up from $535 million in the same period of 2023.

The United Kingdom ranked third with the highest number of passenger car exports with $692.2 million in sales.

Spain listed fourth in Türkiye’s passenger car exports with $618.6 million, followed by Germany with $541 million, reflecting a 43.3 percent increase from the previous year.

Among the top 10 export markets were eight European Union member countries in the first half of 2024.

The Turkish auto industry, which has an annual production capacity of 2 million units, is the third largest in Europe.

In the first half of 2024, more than 707,000 vehicles were produced, marking a 3.8 percent decline from a year ago. Passenger car output fell 0.4 percent year-on-year to around 461,000 units, according to the latest data from the Automotive Manufacturers’ Association (OSD).

Last year, auto production grew 8.6 percent from 2022 to 1.47 million with passenger car output rising 17.5 percent to 953,000.