Auto sales up nearly 9 percent in September in Turkey

Auto sales up nearly 9 percent in September in Turkey

 The combined sales of passenger cars and light commercial vehicles exhibited an annual increase of 8.7 percent in September to 62,000 units, the Automotive Distributors’ Association (ODD) said on Oct. 4 

The passenger car market, which contracted 21.3 percent in August, expanded 2.9 percent last month. Nearly 45,000 passenger cars were sold on the domestic market, showed data from ODD.

Some 88 percent of passenger cars sold last month consisted of the vehicles in the A, B and C segments, which have lower tax rates, the ODD said.

SUVs were the best-selling models with a share of 40.4 percent, followed by sedans at 37.5 percent.

Data from ODD, also showed that light commercial vehicle sales, which fell 4.3 percent annually in August, increased by 26.7 percent to 17,400.

In September, 773 electric vehicles were sold, up 112.4 percent from a year ago. Electric vehicles accounted for 1.7 percent of all cars sold in Turkey.

Hybrid vehicle sales inched up 1.9 percent year-on-year to 4,125, capturing a 9.2 percent share in the market.

In January-September, electric and hybrid car sales increased by 160 percent to 4,056 and 2.8 percent to 38,390, respectively.

A recent survey showed that 49 percent of Turkish consumers say they will consider an EV for their next vehicle, higher than 42 percent in Germany, 44 percent in India, 46 percent in the U.S, and 48 percent in France.

Turkish consumers want to buy an EV not because those cars are less costly but because worries about the environment. However, their biggest concern is the availability of charging infrastructure.