Turkish sales of passenger cars and light commercial vehicles dropped by more than a third in September, data showed Monday, as supply chain disruptions weighed, leaving dealers without cars in their stocks.
Passenger cars and light commercial vehicles sales fell nearly 37% year-on-year in September to 57,141 vehicles, the Automotive Distributors Association (ODD) said.
The market had narrowed 5% in August and 45.3% in July.
Passenger car sales were down 39.1% in September to 43,408 units, while light commercial vehicles dropped 28.9% to 13,733 vehicles, the data showed.
The fall came despite the revisions in tax rates for some passenger cars in mid-August that triggered price cuts and were expected to boost sales.
Yet the interruptions to production, 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, as structural problems, as well as pandemic-induced lockdowns in key supplier countries, persist.
Sales of passenger cars and light commercial vehicles in Turkey still marked a rise of 13.1% year-on-year from January through September to around 558,145 units, according to the ODD data.
The ODD last month 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.
Passenger car sales rose 11% to 434,800 units, in the nine-month period. A total of 123,345 light commercial vehicles were sold in January-September, marking a 17.5% year-on-year rise.
Vehicles in segments A, B and C with low tax rates accounted for 86% of the sales from January through September, ODD said. Of this, segment C held the largest share with 238,644 units, corresponding to 54% of all sales.
In January-September, only 1,560 electric vehicles were sold, accounting for only 0.4% of the overall figure, while 36,824 hybrid cars were purchased.
