European car market stalls, Turkey hits gas

ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News

European automotive market has shrunk by a record 9.5 percent in first two months of the new year, while Turkish sector posted 18 percent growth. AP photo

The European automotive market has continued to shrink as the number of new cars registered on the continent plummeted by 9.5 percent, just as the Turkish car market expanded by 18 percent in the first two months of 2013, two separate reports have showed.

The shrinkage in the European Union came in February, as new car registrations in the bloc continued a downward trend that began in October 2011, reaching their lowest level at less than 800,000 units, according to figures from the Association of European Car Manufacturers (ACEA).Industry representatives are voicing their concerns about the trend, but the already-suffering sector seems unlikely to recover any time soon.

Meanwhile, Turkey is eighth in the European automotive sector, having expanded its automotive market by 18 percent in the last two months, a report published by Turkey’s Automotive Distributors Association (ODD) has said, noting that around 19,000 units were produced over the period in question. Turkish car sales surged by almost 25 percent in the same period, reaching 62,649 units.