Turkish automotive market shrinks by 17 percent
Posted by meb at January 8th, 2009
The Turkish domestic market for passenger cars and light commercial vehicles (LCVs) shrunk by 17 percent last year, from 594,762 individual recorded sales in 2007 to 494,023 in 2008.
According to statistics provided by the Automotive Distributors’ Association (ODD), car sales in 2008 decreased to 305,998, a drop of 14.4 percent compared to 2007. The total sales of LCVs dropped also, down to 188,025 with a 20.8 percent fall on 2007.
In December 2008, the total number of sales within the Turkish automotive market was 42,078 — 25,879 were cars and 16,199 were LCVs. Car sales for December 2008 decreased by 58 percent compared to December 2007 while the decrease in demand for LCVs was almost identical, 59 percent, in the same period.
Car sales have slumped 50 percent in December 2008 compared to November 2008, whereas LCV sales increased by 79 percent on figures from a month before largely due to end of year promotions. 297,861 of vehicles sold last year were imported from outside the country.
Ford topped the list of carmakers with 74,078 vehicles sold in Turkey last year, followed by Renault with 64,084 and Fiat with 61,043. All these international companies produce cars in Turkey for the domestic and export markets through subsidiaries formed in partnership with Turkish companies.
Renault sold the highest number of imported vehicles, with 46,005 bought in 2008, followed by Hyundai, with 28,608, and Fiat with 26,595. In the luxury car market, 17 Ferraris, 12 Bentleys, 9 Lamborghinis, and 17 Maseratis were sold last year in Turkey.
source: Today’s Zaman
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