Turkey’s passenger car sales rose by 91pc to 76,357 units in March and light commercial vehicle sales zoomed by 98pc to 20,071 units, compared to the prior year. according to data released by Turkey’s auto body (Automotive Distributors Association (ODD).
Sales of passenger cars and light commercial vehicles reached encouraging levels of 96,428 units, up 92pc in March compared to the prior year on the back of low interest rates and improved sales campaign in March. Another factor which aided sales in March was fear of lira weakening further which would reflect on auto prices, notes auto sector experts.
In March, compact cars sales reached 42,555 units, the highest sales among car segment followed by entry vehicle units. Compact vehicle sales is up by 89pc and entry cars segment is up 157.8pc. In commercial vehicles, vans’ sales were the highest with around 15,303 units sold and up by 98pc from the previous year followed by sales of light trucks at 2,625 units, up by 106pc from March 2020.
Q1 Sales
Passenger vehicle sales from January-March (Q1) increased by 57pc to 156,464 units from the prior year period while sales of light commercial vehicles increased by 70.3pc to 42,196 units in Q1 2021 from the prior year. Total sales of passenger cars and light commercial vehicles combined has increased almost by 60pc in January-March to 198,660 units from 2020 corresponding period.
Compact vehicles topped the list of passenger cars sales with around 88,244 units sold in Q1, which comprised of 56pc sales in the segment. High demand for compact vehicles was followed by entry-level passenger cars with sales of 59,930 units in Q1.
In light commercial vehicle segment, highest chunk of sales belonged to vans. Around 32,668 vans were sold in Q1 up from 18,692 sold in the prior year.