02 March 2018•Update: 02 March 2018
By Muhammed Ali Gurtas
ANKARA
Turkey’s car sales in Jan.-Feb. period rose 3.6 percent compared to the same period in 2017, the Automotive Distributors' Association said Friday.
A total of 62,512 automobiles were sold in the first two months of this year, while the number was 60,347 over the same period last year.
According to the sectoral figures, nearly 83.5 percent of the overall automobile sales were in the A (mini), B (entry), and C (compact) segments with relatively lower tax burdens, while the rest were in the D (medium), E (luxury), and F (upper luxury) segments.
The association said the C segment car sales ranked first with a share of around 58 percent (36,109 vehicles) while the most preferred body types in Jan.-Feb. period , hatchback, and SUV -- constituting nearly 95 percent of overall car sales.
The two-month automatic transmission passenger car sales amounted to 41,657 or nearly 67 percent of all automobile sales, while diesel passenger car sales' share in overall sales was around 59 percent with 36,965 vehicles.
In the same period, the light commercial vehicles market in Turkey shrank by 10.8 percent to 19,573 vehicles -- including body types of van, light truck, minibus, and pick-up.
Considering the whole auto market in Turkey -- a total of 82,085 passenger cars and light commercial vehicles sales -- Renault was the top brand with 12,507 sales in Jan.-Feb. period, followed by Volkswagen and Fiat with 9,406 and 9,289 sales, respectively.
Ford was the fourth brand (8,245 sales) and Hyundai stood at fifth place (5,211 sales) during the same period.
According to the association, the domestic production's share in overall sales was around 38 percent while the rest were directly imported from abroad.
Prominent automotive manufacturers including Fiat, Ford, Honda, Hyundai, Renault Toyota have manufacturing operations in Turkey which is among the world’s top auto sale markets -- with 956,194 market sales last year.
The European Union was the main market for the Turkish automotive industry, as nearly 80 percent of Turkey's total automotive exports were made to the EU countries amounting to $22 billion in 2017.
