Turkey's auto sales up 8 pct in January

By Muhammed Ali Gurtas

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey’s car and light commercial vehicle sales in January grew 8 percent compared to the same month in 2016, the Automotive Distributors' Association said Thursday.

A total of 35,323 automobiles and light commercial vehicles were sold last month, marking an increase of 8 percent over January 2016 which saw 32,713 sales, according to a report from the Association.

Cars constituted the bulk of last month's sales with 25,689 automobiles having been sold. Sixty percent were diesel vehicles.

The association also revealed that around 86 percent of the overall auto sales were in the A (mini), B (small), and C (standard) segments with relatively lower tax burdens.

The C segment auto sales ranked first with a share of 54 percent (13,905 vehicles) while the most preferred body type in January was sedan with a 47 percent share (12,072 vehicles).

Renault was the top brand with 4,874 sales followed by Ford and Volkswagen with 4,511 and 4,314 sales, respectively.

Fiat was the top fourth brand (3,866 sales) and Hyundai stood at fifth place (2,357 sales) in January.

The world’s prominent automotive manufacturers including Fiat, Ford, Honda, Hyundai, Renault and Toyota have manufacturing operations in Turkey which is among the world’s top auto sale markets.

Last year, the Turkish overall auto sales market hit a record with nearly one million sales --983,720-- while 32 percent of it came from domestic vehicles.