Turkish automotive industry leading Turkish exports for 11 years in row

The Turkish overall auto sales market, including light trucks, hit a new record with nearly 1 million in auto sales in 2016, according to the latest release by the Automotive Manufacturers Association (OSD).

The country's automotive sector was the biggest exporter last year with around $23.9 billion in exports, up from $21.3 billion in 2015, securing a 17 percent share in the total volume of exports, which has placed the automotive industry as the leader of Turkish exports for the 11th year in a row.

The OSD said the overall auto sales market increased by 1.6 percent to reach 983,720 last year compared to 2015, marking the highest level of all times. The 32 percent of overall auto sales came from domestically produced vehicles, and 68 percent of the sales were imported vehicles.The world's prominent automotive producers, such as Toyota, Renault, Fiat, Ford, have manufacturing operations in Turkey, which is among the world's top auto sale markets.

According to the OSD data, Germany was the largest receiver of the Turkish automotive industry with a $4 billion export volume. The exports to Germany increased by 20 percent, the data shows. Germany was followed by Italy, France, Spain and Slovenia with increases of 49, 19 21 and 18 percent, respectively. The total volume of automotive exports to EU countries reached nearly $19 billion.