A total of 4,528 units were sold in the electric automotive market in Turkey last year, including 4,451 hybrids and 77 electric vehicles.
The Turkish Electric and Hybrid Cars Platform (TEHAD) shared the year-end data on the Turkish electric automotive market on its website.
It was noted in the statement that there was a boom in sales last year, and that especially the excise duty regulation for hybrid motor vehicles and the fact that Toyota models benefit from this regulation have been backed by Turkish consumers.
It was also pointed out that 4,451 of the 4,528 vehicles sold in the electric automotive market in 2017 were hybrids, and that 2017 was the "golden year" for hybrid vehicles.
Toyota's C-HR model was the most noteworthy model among the hybrid cars last year and Toyota achieved 92 percent of total hybrid sales alone, according to the statement. This model reached 6,278 in the total sales of gasoline-powered and hybrid vehicles, while the hybrid models that made up 3,381 of them left their gasoline-powered peer behind.
While the C-HR, which was produced in Turkey, reached record numbers in sales, it was also reported that Toyota's other model B-segment's best-selling hybrid Yaris was outscored. The Yaris, which was the market leader in 2016 with 835 units, closed last year with the sales of 163 units.
The new face-lift Yaris, which has just been introduced to the market, can boost sales in the coming months, the statement followed. As of June, the Hyundai Ioniq and Kia Niro hybrids were on the list with a total sales figure of 284 units. The Hyundai Ioniq Hybrid, offered as three different electric models available on a single platform, is represented as the only sedan model of the C-segment in Turkey.
The statement also added that the 100 percent electric vehicles, whose sales are growing exponentially every year in Europe, the U.S. and China, have not drawn enough interest in Turkey, and that even though the sales of electric vehicles, which stood at 44 in 2016 in Turkey, reached 77 last year, it lagged behind the world average.
TEHAD Founder Berkan Bayram said only 45,000 electric vehicle sales were realized in 2011 in the world, but this figure exceeded 2 million as of last year.
Stressing that the upward trend will continue in an unavoidable manner, Bayram said by 2025, four of every 10 vehicles sold will be electric, adding that the statements made by automotive brands one after another also verify this figure. "In response to this demand for the electric car, our country should invest more in automotive and battery technology and be aware of the strategic importance of especially the lithium-based battery technology and the energy storage," he said.
Bayram also argued that the Motor Vehicle Tax (MTV) is implemented as zero in electric vehicles and that it should be applied to hybrid vehicles in the same way as well.
