Nearly 110,000 cars produced in January

ISTANBUL

Turkey’s total vehicle production (passenger cars and commercial vehicles combined) amounted to 109,783 units in the first month of 2020, marking a slight decline of 0.1 percent on an annual basis, data from the Automotive Manufacturers’ Association (OSD) have shown.

Passenger car output exhibited a 5.6 percent annual increase to around 74,000 units, while commercial vehicle production, including trucks, pick-up trucks, buses, as well as mini and midi buses, declined 10.6 percent to 34,400 units.

The OSD also reported that total sales on the domestic market surged nearly 90 percent in January from a year ago to a little more than 28,000 units, with passenger car sales leaping 101 percent to 22,016 units.

In another sign of strong demand, nearly 14,000 passenger cars were imported in the month, marking a 102 percent increase compared with January 2019.

The industry’s shipments to foreign markets rose by 3.5 percent, generating $2.46 billion in export revenues.

Revenues from passenger car exports amounted to $1.03 billion, which translated into a 27.2 percent increase on an annual basis.

In terms of volume, the sector’s exports declined 3.7 percent in January from a year ago to some 90,000 units.

The Automotive Distributors’ Association (ODD), another industry group, predicted earlier in January that total sales on the domestic market would be between 575,000 and 625,000 units this year.