Fiat Tofaş exports 48,200 vehicles in first half

ISTANBUL

Fiat Tofaş produced 84,500 light commercial vehicles and passenger cars in the first half of this year, according to a statement by the company on Aug. 3.

The joint venture between Turkey’s Koç Holding and Italy’s Fiat Chrysler exported 48,200 vehicles in the same period.

The company’s net profit fell to 634 million Turkish Liras ($96.9 million) in the first half of this year from 733,2 million liras in the first six months of last year. Fiat Tofaş’s total sales in Turkey reached 7.5 billion liras ($1.1 billion) in the same period, down from 9.3 billion liras in the first half of 2019.

All brands represented by Fiat Tofaş in Turkey, namely Fiat, Fiat Professional, Alfa Romeo and Jeep, made 16.2 percent of the Turkish automotive market with 41,115 sales.

“We are making long-term plans. Although coronavirus risks continue and it will take some while for recovery in the European market, to which we make a significant part of our exports, we have never suspended investments and studies for new products. We made a total investment of 50 million euros in the first six months of the year. We are planning the investments to reach 150 million euros at the end of this year,” said Fiat Tofaş CEO Cengiz Eroldu.

The Turkish automotive market ranked sixth in Europe with 261,896 light commercial vehicle sales in the first half of the year behind Germany, France, Britain, Italy and Spain.

While the European automotive sales dropped 39 percent in the same period, Turkey increased sales 30 percent annually. Turkey was the only country among the 31 countries on the continent that increased sales amid the coronavirus pandemic.