Turkey’s new vehicle registrations down 28 pct in 2018

ANKARA

Over 903,000 new and second-hand vehicles were registered last year, the Turkish Statistical Institute, TÜİK, announced on Feb. 5.

The total for 2018 was down 27.6 percent year-on-year, according to the country’s statistics authority.

The new registrations happened while over 256,000 registrations were withdrawn in January-December, making for a net rise in road motor vehicle registrations of nearly 647,000, TÜİK said.

The total number of road motor vehicles registered reached nearly 22.9 million by the end of last year, according to TÜİK.

Automobiles accounted for the bulk of new registrations - 58 percent - while motorcycles accounted for 17.4 percent. Small trucks represented 14.3 percent.

In December 2018, the number of new vehicles registered in the country fell 45.5 percent on a yearly basis, reaching 56,112.

The Automotive Distributors’ Association (ODD) reported on Feb. 4 that nearly 14,400 passenger cars and light commercial vehicles were sold in Turkey in January.

Sales dropped 59.02 percent compared to the same month of 2018, according to a report issued by the association.

Nearly 11,000 automobiles were sold, down 58.74 percent on a yearly basis, the ODD said in a statement.

The light commercial vehicle market also dropped 59.91 percent, standing at 3,394 year-on-year in January.