TOFAŞ profits up 24 percent

Turkish carmaker TOFAŞ posted a net profit of TL 157.9 million ($55 million) in the third quarter of 2015 - an 24 percent increase compared to the TL 127.1 million in net profit it reported in the same period of last year - the company said in a statement late Wednesday. TOFAŞ, a joint venture between Turkey's Koç Holding and Italy's Fiat, saw sales increase to TL 2.27 billion from TL 1.68 billion in the third quarter of 2014. Sales were up 34.2 percent to nearly TL 7 billion during the January to September period. TOFAŞ, which employs more than 7,400 workers, manufactured 196,709 cars in the first nine months of the year in Turkey, with 126,610 being exported to foreign countries. TOFAŞ sold 83,540 cars in Turkey, a 42.6 percent increase compared to the same period last year, including the imported Alfa Romeo, Lancia, Ferrari and Maserati brands, between January and September of 2015.