Despite an overall contraction in the Turkish auto market in the first seven months of 2026, the total share of electric and hybrid vehicles has risen further to account for more than half of the sales, driven particularly by strong interest in hybrids, according to a report on Wednesday.

In Türkiye, electric and hybrid cars accounted for 51.7% of the total market with 259,970 sales in the January-July period, data compiled from the Automotive Distributors and Mobility Association (ODMD) revealed.

Overall, car sales decreased by 12.14% year-over-year to 502,712 in the January-July period, while light commercial vehicle sales dropped by 5.05% to 136,253.

In this period, 208,046 gasoline-powered and 165,924 hybrid cars were sold. Diesel car sales stood at 30,790, and the number of autogas (LPG) car sales was 3,906, respectively.

The sales of fully electric cars were, meanwhile, recorded at 93,403 units.

Including vehicles with extended range systems, electric car sales reached 94,046, attaining a 18.7% market share.

EV sales drop, hybrid on rise

Looking at the categories, in the first seven months of the year, gasoline car sales dropped by 19.8%, diesel sales by 32%, and electric sales by 9%, while hybrid car sales increased by 3.5% and autogas car sales surged by 4.1%.

Experts state that the main reason for the drop in diesel car sales is the ongoing process where global manufacturers are phasing out diesel car production, and consequently, no new diesel cars are being introduced to the market. Accordingly, the share of diesel cars dropped from 7.9% to 6.1% on a yearly basis.

The share of gasoline cars in sales, which was 45.3% in the January-July period of last year, on the other hand, fell to 41.4% in the same period this year. The share of autogas cars meanwhile increased slightly from 0.7% to 0.8%.

In the same period, the market share of electric cars rose from 18.1% to 18.7%, and for hybrids, from 28% to 33%.

As such, when electric and hybrid cars are considered together, they accounted for 51.7% of the total market in the first seven months, with sales reaching 259,970. Thus, more than half of the cars sold in Türkiye were electric and hybrid vehicles.

In July, 12,715 electric cars were sold. Compared to the same period last year, sales of electric vehicles dropped by 27.1%. The market share of electric cars in July was calculated as 20.4%.

In the same month, 20,120 hybrid cars were sold, and their market share was recorded as 32.2%.