Dünya – Strong sales figures have lifted the Turkish automotive market’s prospects for 2015, with first half sales going up by 45 percent year-on-year. The country’s automotive market emerged as the sixth largest in Europe for the first half, as a total of 327.000 new vehicles were registered in the period.
The European Union and European Free Trade Association markets have reached a sales volume of 7.4 million in Jan–June 2015, with the largest markets lining up as Germany, Britain and France, all exceeding the one million mark, albeit with modest increase rates of 5.2 percent, 7 percent, and 6.1 percent, respectively, when compared with the same period of last year. Italy and Spain came in 4th and 5th in terms of market size.
Industry experts expect the sales of motor vehicles in Türkiye to reach at least 825.000 by the year end, as Turkish buyers tend to wait for late-year campaigns to acquire new vehicles. 770.000 vehicles were sold in the country last year.
In terms of production, the Automotive Manufacturers Association (OSD) of Türkiye forecasts an output of 1.225 million vehicles for the entire year. A large majority of these vehicles – over 900.000 – will be shipped to markets abroad.
Ford, Fiat, Hyundai, Renault, Toyota, Honda, and other carmakers have production operations in Türkiye where they utilize the country’s skilled labor force and strategic location to reach regional and global markets. With an edge in manufacturing commercial vehicles of almost every variety, Türkiye ranks sixth in Europe and 17th in the world in overall motor vehicle production.
The Turkish automotive industry aims to reach at least 4 million-unit production capacity by 2023, with plans to export 3 million vehicles per year.