Turkey's automotive sector has maintained a strong export performance in the first 11 months of this year, selling 85 percent of products abroad, according to the Automotive Manufacturers Association (OSD).
Despite stagnation in the domestic market, the automotive sector reached 1.4 million units in total production and exported 1.2 million units.
The OSD's production and export data for the January-November period of 2018 also showed that total production dropped by 8 percent compared to the same period of the previous year. Automobile production stood at 944,304 units with a decrease of 10 percent. During this period, the total market declined by 34 percent to 561,639 units, while the automobile market shrank 32 percent to 425,478 units.
Total automobile exports followed a parallel course to the previous year in terms of quantity; however, the automobile exports dropped by 5 percent compared to the same period of the previous year. Total exports reached 1.2 million units in this period, with automobile exports standing at 810,054 units.
Meanwhile, automotive exports rose by 12 percent in dollars and 6 percent in euros due to the change in parity and the increasing added value. During the same period, automotive exports totaled $29.7 billion, while automobile exports reached $11.4 billion with an increase of 6 percent. Automobile exports in euros, on the other hand, reached 9.6 billion euros.
According to the OSD's January-November data, total production in the commercial vehicles group and light vehicles group experienced a decline of 3 percent each, while production in heavy commercial vehicles surged by 10 percent.
In the first eleven months of this year, the commercial vehicles market dropped by 39 percent. The light commercial vehicles market dropped by 40 percent and heavy commercial vehicles market by 27 percent. This limited decline in the heavy commercial vehicles group was due to the base effect, and the market shrinkage was around 57 percent in the past three years.
Stressing that the excise duty (ÖTV) and value-added tax (VAT) discounts spun the wheels of automotive production once again, OSD Chairman Haydar Yenigün said they could have faced problematic outcomes in many respects in a scenario where the sector had not been supported by the tax reductions. "The special campaigns, together with the tax reduction applied with clear state support, increased both the mobility in the showrooms and sales," he continued.
"These increases helped production in the plants continue. The automotive sector of our country, which stands out as a very important exporter on a global basis, achieved a noteworthy success once again by exporting 85 percent of its production. We wholeheartedly believe that the positive developments experienced in both the domestic market and production will also have an impact on the December results," he said.
