Turkey’s car exports neared $4.6 billion in the January-June period as the country sold vehicles to 97 countries, along with autonomous regions and free zones, according to data by Uludağ Automotive Industry Exporters' Association on Saturday.

In this period, the share of passenger cars in automotive industry exports was 30.1%, exceeding $4.59 billion.

France, Turkey's second main market in the automotive sector, topped the list of countries in the country's car exports.

In the first half of the year, exports to France decreased by 30% to $659 million compared to the same period last year.

The second country in Turkey's passenger car exports was the United Kingdom.

In the January-June period of last year, $395 million worth of passenger cars were sold, while the figure reached $522.78 million in the same period this year.

Passenger car exports to Spain, which ranks third, increased from $405.86 million to $456.7 million.

Turkey's exports to France, the U.K. and Spain accounted for 35.7% of the country's total passenger car exports in the January-June period, while Italy and Germany ranked fourth and fifth, respectively.