European automotive demand up 7 pct in January

By Gokhan Ergocun

ANKARA (AA) - Demand for vehicles in the European countries recorded a 7 percent annual rise in January 2018, Turkey’s Automotive Distributers' Association said on Wednesday.

"In the EU 28 and European Free Trade Association (EFTA) countries, automotive market rose by 7 percent to 1,480,499 vehicles in January 2018, compared to the same month of 2017," the association said in a press release, citing statistics of European Automobile Manufacturers' Association.

Among the five big markets, Spain (19.5 percent), Germany (11.4 percent) recorded the strongest gains, followed by Italy (4.3 percent) and France (3.2 percent), it noted.

The association noted that demand for automotive in the U.K. declined 6.2 percent last year.

In January, 2018, a total of 296,465 vehicles were sold in Germany, 194,554 in Italy, 194,351 in France, 187,736 in the U.K., while 120,327 vehicles vehicles were sold in Spain.

Turkey's automotive sales were 36,053 vehicles in January, down 0.26 percent from 36,146 in January 2017, the report added.

The EU is the main automotive export market for Turkey, where the world’s prominent automotive manufacturers -- including Fiat, Ford, Honda, Hyundai, Renault, and Toyota -- have manufacturing operations.

Last year, nearly 80 percent of Turkey's total automotive exports were made to the EU countries amounting to $22 billion, marking a 17 percent rise year-on-year.

The EU's automotive market rose by 3.3 percent to 18,118,072 vehicles in 2017. In Turkey, 980,277 vehicles were sold during the year.