Turkey’s automotive industry eyes $25 billion in exports in 2017: Association

ISTANBUL

DHA photo

Turkey’s automotive exports are expected to reach $25 billion in 2017 with an 8 percent increase from 2016, according to sector representatives. 

The head of the Turkish Automotive Parts Industry Association (TAYSAD), Alper Kanca, has said that around $10 billion of these exports will most likely be achieved by domestic suppliers. 

Turkey is the largest automotive exporter to Europe, Kanca said in a press meeting on Dec. 27, a follow-up press release said. 

European Union countries imported a total of 843,000 cars from Turkey in 2015, although the number included 480,000 from Japan and 376,000 from South Korea. 

“In the first 11 months of 2016, our production hit over 1.3 million units. The sector’s exports also exceeded $21.9 billion, which $8.3 billion of the exports were from automotive parts industry,” he said.
 
“The automotive sector will most likely close this year with over 1.4 million units of production, a total market with 1 million units and $23 billion in exports,” he said, while adding that the output target for 2017 was 1.5 million units and the export target was $25 billion. 

Kanca said that the sector would focus on new alternative markets in addition to its existing markets, such as Iran, India, China and America. 

According to TAYSAD representatives, recent hikes in special consumption taxes and the lowering trend in the Turkish Lira may push down domestic demands in 2017. 

Meanwhile, automotive production in Turkey rose by 8 percent year-on-year in the first 11 months, according to a monthly Automotive Manufacturers Association (OSD) report released in mid-December.

The OSD said that automakers in the country manufactured nearly 1,377,000 vehicles -- including automobiles, light commercial vehicles and tractors -- during the first 11 months, while automobile production increased by 18 percent, at 844,000, in the same period.

According to the OSD report, the total production for the January-to-November period had never been so high.