Turkish auto industry breaks fresh production record

ANKARA - Anadolu Agency

The number of cars produced by Turkish automakers in the first quarter of the year increased by 44 percent, pushing overall automotive production to its highest level since 2007, according to an official data released on April 12.

In the January-March period, auto industry production climbed 23 percent from the same period in 2016, with passenger cars alone up by 44 percent, according to an Automotive Manufacturer’s Association report.        
The total auto industry output was 424,000 in the first quarter of the year, with passenger cars making up 71 percent of the overall production with 300,000 units.     
   
The report said commercial vehicle production was unable to keep pace with passenger cars in the first quarter, down 10 percent from a year earlier.        

The downward performance of light commercial vehicle production in the quarter, 12 percent less than a year earlier, was the main cause of the negative outlook in commercial vehicles despite the production of heavy commercial vehicles such as buses, minibuses and trucks experiencing an increase of 10 percent from the same period last year.        

Industry exports also saw a healthy rise in the same period, up 25 percent from a year earlier to $7.09 billion, including $3.01 billion from passenger cars alone.        

The health of the sector is vital to protect the Turkish economy as the automotive sector has been the biggest exporter in recent years.    
    
In 2016, the sector’s exports were around $23.9 billion, an increase from $21.3 billion in 2015.