Reports issued by the auto industry sectors on Monday revealed the amount of Turkey’s production of vehicles, including light commercial vehicles, tractors and cars, as the number of vehicles manufactured in Turkey exceeded one million vehicles in the period from January to October 2020.
As stated in the report of the Turkish Automobile Manufacturers Association, that number during the first 10 months of this year has witnessed a decrease of 16% compared to the same period last year.
Turkey’s car production also decreased by 15% year on year during the first ten months of this year.
Association President Hayder Yenigun said that the reason for the decline in car production in Turkey is due to the outbreak of the Coronavirus in the country and the world in general, and he continued: “Even if there are negative effects of the Coronavirus on our industry in the short term, we do not expect any negative effects in the medium or long term.”
Car sales in Turkey are higher than expected in 2020
The car sales market in Turkey has also achieved a significant expansion in general, by up to 78% compared to the same period last year, including light trucks and other vehicles, as the number of vehicles sold in Turkey reached 605,390 vehicles from January to October.
Turkey’s auto industry exports decreased by 21% on a dollar basis to $ 20.4 billion in the first ten months of this year, compared to the same period last year.
The report issued by the Association of Automobile Dealers (OYDER) also added that the value of exports of the automobile sector decreased by 24% year-on-year to $ 7.3 billion. As the sector issued 720,208 units during the first 10 months of this year.
In October, vehicle production recorded an annual increase of 14% to 150,746 units.
The outbreak of the Coronavirus has affected the global auto industry significantly, as sales declined after governments around the world imposed bans and general closures to limit the spread of the virus.
Since May, Turkey has gradually removed some of the general lockdown measures, in an attempt to revive the national economy. And most of the measures were lifted in June.
According to the average car sales in October over a period of 10 years, overall sales increased by 48.7%, according to the Auto Distributors Association, with passenger cars sales increasing by 60.5% and light commercial vehicles by 14%.
Car exports in Turkey amount to $ 2.9 billion
Separate data issued by the Uludag Automobile Industry Exporters Association (OIB) also showed that Turkey’s auto industry exports had reached the highest monthly figure during the past two years.
Car exports in Turkey increased by 3.7% year-on-year to $ 2.9 billion (24.45 billion Turkish liras) during the month of October.
These data also showed that Turkey’s auto exports to the European Union, which is its largest market, had increased by 6% to $ 2.8 billion.
The sector also witnessed a 9% increase in exports to Middle Eastern countries.
