Volkswagen best-selling car in Turkey in January

ISTANBUL

Volkswagen was the most popular car brand in Turkey in January in terms of the number of units it sold on the local market, the latest data have shown.

In the month, the German carmaker managed to sell a total of 3,700 vehicles, according to the calculations of Anadolu Agency, based on the figures from the Automotive Distributors’ Association (ODD).

Fiat ranked second with 3,240 units sold, while Renault came third with 2,900 units.

In the passenger car segment, Volkswagen was again the best-selling brand with 3,292 units, followed by Renault with 2,743 units.

Toyota captured the third spot in this category with 2,351 passenger cars sold on the local market.

In January, total vehicle sales (passenger cars and light commercial vehicles combined) soared nearly 90 percent on an annual basis to hit 27,270 units.

That followed the 17 percent expansion in the market in the previous month which saw nearly 91,000 vehicle sales.

Passenger car sales grew at a staggering pace in the month, rising 101 percent year-on-year to more than 22,000 units, while the increase in the light commercial vehicle segment was 55 percent on an annual basis.

Gasoline-powered vehicles accounted for some 48 percent of all vehicles sold in January, capturing the largest share, while the share of diesel cars was some 42 percent.

Cars which run on LPG (liquefied petroleum gas) came third with 6.2 percent share in total sales.

Only 3.6 percent of all vehicles sold on the market was hybrid vehicle, while the electric cars’ share was 0.06 percent.

The ODD forecasts that vehicle sales will be between 575,000 and 625,000 units this year.

In 2019, auto sales in Turkey declined by 23 percent to 479,000 units, with the passenger car market contracting 20 percent to 387,000 units sold.