Darker outlook for car sector in 2nd half

ISTANBUL - Anadolu Agency

July and August will be hard for the car sector, says an executive. AFP photo

The second half of the year won’t be as bright as the first half for the automotive sector due to an unpredictable financial environment, an Automotive Distributors Association (ODD) executive said.

ODD general coordinator Hayri Erce said in first five months of 2013, credit upgrades by the credit rating agencies and the Central Bank’s interest discounts positively affected the automotive sector.

“Our estimations were between 790,000 and 840,000, however we believe that July and August will pass difficultly. We can’t estimate the fluctuations in rates and interest. The sooner normalization takes place, the easier our making a prediction would be,” Erce said.

Erce also said fluctuations increasing movements are reflected on automotive products at 1 or 2 percent upon a question about whether vehicle prices would increase as foreign currencies increase.

He said the Central Bank’s currency selling bids continued. If a recession takes place after it, finance and price won’t be reflected by it, he added.