Turkey to rise in Israel car market

ISTANBUL

EPA Photo

Turkey, which exported some 18,000 assembled cars worth hundreds of millions of dollars to Israel last year, is set to sell new car models, increasing its market share in the country’s auto industry to 15 percent, according to Israeli financial newspaper Globes.

The numbers will grow as new models are assembled in Turkey and begin arriving in Israel in 2013 and early 2014, with potentially thousands of units being sold, Globes said in an article last week.

The newspaper claimed Toyota Corolla models would start being exported from Turkey to Israel in the fourth quarter of this year, replacing direct imports from Japan. Toyota Motor Manufacturing Turkey will start assembling the new generation of Corollas for the European market at a plant in the northwestern province of Sakarya in June, targeting 100,000 cars per year.

The Hyundai Motor Company will also begin exporting Hyundai i10 models from Turkey to Israel, rather than from its plant in India. Production will begin at the company’s plant in the northwestern province of Kocaeli this year. The Honda Motor Company assembly plant in Turkey that is due to come on line in 2014 will produce a compact recreational car, while the new Renault Cleo will be exported from Turkey to Israel in mid-2013.All these imports from Turkey will increase the country’s share in the Israeli car market to almost 15 percent, according to Globes, which also pointed out that the political crisis between two countries had not affected bilateral trade.