Turkish automotive sales contracted 53 pct in August: Association

ISTANBUL

Turkey’s passenger car and light commercial vehicle sales fell 53 percent from a year earlier to 34,346 vehicles in August, the Automotive Distributors Association (ODD) has said.

In a monthly sector statement, the association said on Sept. 4 that the market lagged by 43.7 percent behind the last decade monthly average, which is composed of 60,951 units.

 While 26,976 passenger cars were sold in August by a 50.9 percent yearly decline, a total of 7,370 light commercial vehicles were sold by a 58.2 percent decrease compared to the same month of 2017.

 In the January-August period, sales decreased 21 percent year-on-year to 440,428 vehicles, the association added, with an average 18.5 percent contraction in the passenger car market.

The shrinkage in the light commercial vehicle market was 28 percent in the first eight months of the year compared to the same period of 2017, according to ODD figures.

In the January-August period, 114 electric cars and 2,858 hybrid cars were sold across Turkey.

Turkey exports almost eight of 10 vehicles which are manufactured in the country.