Local auto market contracts 15 percent

ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News

Car and light vehicle sales are on the fall due to tax hikes and slowing economy. Hürriyet photo

Turkey’s automobile and light vehicle market contracted by 15.14 percent in the first eight months of the year compared with the same period last year, according to data from the Automotive Distributers Association (ODD).

The measures to ensure a soft landing for economic growth – the special consumption tax hikes and slowing economic activity – were the main reasons for the sales plunge, according to ODD General Director Hayri Erce.

Some 461,000 automobiles and light vehicles were sold between January and August, and the figure was 58,148 in August.

Automobile sales dropped 11.25 percent to 330,257 in the first eight months of the year from 372,132 in the same period last year. However automobile sales in August increased 6.07 percent to 41,236.

Interest rates effective

The increase in automobile sales last month was due to drops in inflation and interest rates, according to Erce.

As for the light vehicle market, sales plunged 23.57 percent in the first eight months to 130,827 from 171,183 in the same period last year. The figures for August mark a 13.41 percent contraction, with 16,912 sales.

The decline in sales of automobiles with large engines was particularly remarkable in the first eight months. Engines smaller than 1,600 cubic centimeters (cc) dropped 8.2 percent, while the rate of drop was 31.8 percent in automobile sales with engines between 1,600 and 2,000 cc, and 57.6 percent in automobile sales with engines over 2,000 cc.

Only 56 electric automobiles – with less than 85 kW power – were sold in Turkey in the same period.
The share of diesel automobiles was 59 percent, and the share of automatic automobiles was 35.4 percent of total sales. Cars subject to lower sales tax made up the lion’s share of with 84.6 percent of total automobile sales.