Luxury auto sales down 56 percent in first half of year

ISTANBUL

Luxury automobile sales in Turkey declined by 58.9 percent on an annual basis to a total of 3,356 units in the first half of 2019, according to calculations by state-run Anadolu Agency based on data from by the Automotive Distributors’ Association (ODD).

In January-June, 774 units of Mercedes Benz-E model cars were sold in the country, taking the largest share in the E-segment.

BMW came second as it sold 757 units its model 5, while under this category 634 units of AUDI A6 vehicles were sold in the first six months of the year.

Data also showed that locals purchased 168 units of Volvo S90, 135 Volvo XC60, 118 Land Rover Range Rover Velar, 117 units of Porsche Macan, and 104 Audi Q5 model cars.

The market for more expensive vehicles (classified as F-segment cars) contracted 40.6 percent on an annual basis in the same period to 1,033 units.

Volvo XC90 was the best-selling model under this category with 269 units sold, followed by BMW’s X5 model with 155 sales. In the first half, also 97 units of Audi Q7 and 80 units of Land Rover Range Rover Sport vehicles were sold.

Only one unit from each of the following models were sold: Aston Martin DBS Superleggera Aston Martin V12 Vanquish Coupe, Bentley Bentayga, Bentley Flying Spur, BMW i, Ferrari GTC4 Lusso, Jaguar XJ LWB, Lamborghini Aventador and Mercedes-Benz GLS.

The ODD reported this month that in January-June total vehicle sales in Turkey amounted to 195,144 units, marking a 44.77 percent decline in the same period of 2018. Passenger car sales declined by 43.31 percent to 156,378 units, while light commercial vehicle sales fell by 49.97 percent to 38,766 units on an annual basis in the first six months of the year.