Turkey’s car, LCV market expands 13.1 percent

ISTANBUL

The sales of passenger cars and light commercial vehicles in Turkey improved 13.1 percent year on year in the first three quarters, an industrial group report showed on Oct. 4.

As many as 558,145 vehicles were sold across Turkey in the January-September period this year, the Automotive Distributors’ Association (ODD) said in a statement.

Passenger car sales went up by 11.9 percent so far this year compared to the same period in 2020 to 434,800 units, while light commercial vehicle sales went up by 17.5 percent to 123,345 units.

In September, however, the passenger car and light commercial vehicle market decreased by 36.9 percent to 57,141 units.

The decrease in September was 39.1 percent in the passenger car market (43,408 units), and 28.9 percent in the light commercial vehicle market (13,733 units).

In comparison to the average last 10-year September sales, passenger car and light commercial vehicle market showed a decrease of 8.3 percent.

When studied in terms of engine type, petrol car sales took a share of 66.1 percent (287,288 units). Diesel car sales took a share of 20.1 percent (87,415 units), hybrid car sales took a share of 8.5 percent (36,824 units), autogas car share was 5 percent (21,713 units) and 1,560 electric cars were also sold.

In retail sales in the first nine months of this year, Fiat models dominated the domestically-produced passenger car market with 56,614 sales. Renault (47,535 sales), Toyota (32,851 sales), Honda (18,085 sales), Hyundai (17,021 sales) and Ford (2,041) models followed the Italian brand in this category.

In the same period, a total of 44,933 Volkswagen passenger car models were imported. Dacia (22,493 sales), Skoda (21,873 sales), Peugeot (20,079 sales), Opel (16,724 sales), Citroen (15,423 sales), Kia (13,403 sales), Mercedes-Benz (12,970 sales), Nissan (11,252 sales), BMW (10,894 sales) and Audi (10,733 sales) followed the German brand in this category.

Ford and Fiat has sold 36,304 and 29,420 locally-produced light commercial vehicles, respectively, so far this year.

Auto exports up 24 percent

The Turkish automotive industry’s exports rose 24 percent on an annual basis to amount to $21.3 billion in January-September, according to data from another industrial group.

In September alone, however, the sector’s shipments to foreign markets declined by 5 percent from a year ago to $2.5 billion, the Uludağ Automotive Industry Exporters’ Association (OİB) said.

The industry’s monthly exports averaged $2.36 billion between January and September, making it the largest exporting sector in the country.

Local carmakers’ passenger car exports to Spain and Germany grew by 37 percent and 14 percent, respectively, however, shipments to France declined by 46 percent and the drop in exports to the U.K was 54 percent.

In September, the U.K. took over Germany as the largest importer of Turkish vehicles. The local automotive sector’s overall exports to the U.K. rose 20 percent year on year to $338 million, while shipments to Germany amounted to $319 million, marking a 5 percent decline. France was the third export market for local manufacturers as sales to this country stood at $200 million, declining 34 percent on an annual basis.

The latest data from the Trade Ministry showed that Turkey posted its highest-ever monthly exports figure in September at $20.8 billion, rising 30 percent year on year.