Turkish sales of passenger cars and light commercial vehicles dropped for the fourth consecutive month in October, data showed Tuesday, maintaining a downward trend as supply chain disruptions continue to plague the automotive industry.

Passenger cars and light commercial vehicles sales fell over 40% year-on-year in October to 56,141 vehicles, the Automotive Distributors Association (ODD) said.

The market had narrowed 45.3% in July, 5% in August and 37% in September.

Passenger car sales were down nearly 47% last month to 40,512 units, while light commercial vehicles dropped 11.7% to 16,234 vehicles, the data showed.

The sales were 13.8% lower compared to 10-year average October sales, according to the data.

Sales have been falling despite the revisions in tax rates for some passenger cars in mid-August that triggered price cuts and were expected to boost sales.

Yet, recent depreciation in the Turkish lira has reportedly prompted many carmakers to hike prices recently.

The production disruptions, caused mainly by semiconductor shortages, dented automakers and left local dealers without enough cars to meet the surging demand.

Sector representatives have stressed concerns that the troubles with chip supply plaguing automakers worldwide would continue into 2023.

Sales of passenger cars and light commercial vehicles in Turkey still marked a rise of 4.5% year-on-year from January through September to around 614,891 units, according to the ODD data.

Passenger car sales rose 2.2% to 475,312 units. A total of 139,579 light commercial vehicles were sold in the January-October period, marking a 13% year-on-year rise.

The ODD forecast that sales would amount to between 825,000 and 875,000 this year, up from a previous forecast of 775,000-825,000, before rising to 850,000-900,000 in 2022. Sales last year stood at 773,000.