Turkey's automotive exports rose by 21.6 percent to $20.77 billion, while exports to the U.S. doubled to $967.28 million, showing an increase of 101.18 percent year-on-year in the first nine months of 2017, exporters said Monday.

The sector's exports to the U.S. amounted to $480.8 million from January to September last year, jumping to $967.2 million in the same period this year. The steep increase in the U.S. market made it the sixth-largest automotive market for Turkish exports, which formerly ranked 10th.

Uludağ Automotive Industry Exporters' Association (OIB) announced that 77.7 percent of total automotive exports—$16.14 billion—were made to 27 countries in the EU, which is Turkey's largest trade partner.

While nine of the top 10 countries that exported the most in the period were from the EU, U.S. made the list as an exception at sixth place.

The sector exported to 180 countries and self-governing territories, and 12 free zones across five continents, mainly in Western countries, OIB's data showed.

Turkey's automotive exports to 153 countries outside the EU were $4.63 billion, while the country did not export to the Greek Cypriot Administration, which is an EU member.

During the January-September period, Germany ranked first among countries in Turkey's automotive export list with $3.23 billion exports, which is increase of 13.7 percent, year-on-year.

Germany was followed by Italy, where automotive exports rose 21.08 percent and generated revenue of $2.3 billion. France saw a 19.75 rise in automotive imports from Turkey, which amounted to $2.2 billion. The U.K. and Spain were other major markets for the domestic automotive industry with a 26.31 and 26.32 percent increase, respectively, valued at $2.8 billion and $1.2 billion.

While nine of the 10 countries that are major export markets for the automotive industry were EU countries, the exception was the U.S. Accordingly, the U.S. became the sixth largest market for Turkish automotive exports.

OİB Chairman Orhan Sabuncu said that the EU has always been the most prominent market for Turkey's automotive exports. He explained that 78 percent of exports from January to September were sales to the EU market. "Every $78 out of $100 in automotive exports came from the EU, and nine of the top-10 export markets were EU countries. The sector's sales to the union saw a 20 percent increase in the first nine months and totaled $16.1 billion," Sabuncu said.

He added that he was glad with exports to the U.S., which is one of the most important centers of the automotive industry in the world.

Turkey's total exports reached $114.66 billion between January to September of 2017, according to Turkish Exporters Assembly's (TIM) data.

TIM said total exports to the U.S. rose 36.50 percent to $667.67 million in September and 26.44 percent to $5.96 billion, year-on-year, in the first nine months of 2017.