Turkey’s July automotive sales down 36 percent: Association

ISTANBUL

Turkey’s passenger car and light commercial vehicle sales fell 36 percent from a year earlier to 52,734 vehicles in July, Turkey’s Automotive Distributors Association (ODD) said on Aug. 2.

In the January-July period, sales decreased 16 percent year-on-year to 406,082 vehicles, it also said.

The market shrank 20.5 percent in the second quarter of the year compared to the same period of 2017, mainly driven by a weakening lira and a rise in financial costs.

According to ODD data, a total of 42,024 units of passenger cars were sold in July with a 32.6 percent yearly decline. The light commercial vehicles market saw a 46.2 percent year-on-year contraction with the sale of 10,710 units.

The sector has forecasted a nearly 13.5 percent yearly contraction in the domestic market over this year.

The sector makes production mainly for foreign markets as almost eight of each 10 automotive units produced in Turkey are exported.