According to the statistics released by the Turkish Automotive Distributors Association (ODD), in the first eight months of this year the domestic passenger car and light vehicle market shrank by 15.14 percent compared to the same period last year, with sales declining to 461,084 units. In August, domestic sales of passenger cars totaled 41,236 units, up 6.1 percent compared to August 2011.
In the first eight months, passenger car sales in Turkey totaled 330,257 units, falling by 11.25 percent compared to the first eight months of last year, while sales of light commercial vehicles declined by 23.57 percent year on year to 130,827 units. In August, sales of light commercial vehicles totaled 16,912 units, falling 13.4 percent year on year.
The association noted that the decline in inflation and bank rates positively affected the domestic passenger car market in August. Meanwhile, the increase in the Special Consumption Tax (ÖTV) and the slowed growth process continued to cause the decline in vehicle sales in the January-August period.
In addition, in line with the economic recovery seen in recent months and with the removal of the base effect, the contraction in the passenger and light vehicle market declined to 0.44 percent year on year in August, following the 1.17 percent year-on-year decline recorded in July.
The ODD has increased its forecast of total sales in the Turkish automotive sector in 2012 to the range of 800,000-850,000 units.
The ODD also noted that the global automotive market industry will expand by 5.5 percent in 2012 compared to 2011 reaching 82.8 million units, while in 2012 it is expected to grow by 6.7 percent year on year to 88.4 million units, according to the latest estimates of global forecaster LMC Automotive.