Automotive sales rise 50 percent in Q1

Emre Özpeynirci - ISTANBUL

AFP Photo

The automotive sector posted dramatically high sales figures in the first quarter of the year, although many other sectors have been in a slow-down process, due to the rise in the sale of low-cost 2014 models and fleet sales. 

According to the Automotive Distributors Association (ODD) data, the sales of automobiles and light commercial vehicles increased by 50.29 percent to 173,248 in the first quarter of the year from the same period of 2014. The automobile sales increased by 42.13 percent to 126,991 units and the light commercial vehicle sales by 78.43 percent to 46,257 units in the first quarter of the year from the first three months of 2014. 

The sales of automobile and light commercial vehicle increased to 83,302 units in March by 75.07 percent from the same month of the previous year. 

There are several reasons behind the dramatic rise in the automotive sales, according to sector representatives. First of all, consumers appear to buy cars with concerns about the future possible losses in Turkish Lira against the U.S. dollar. There is also a dramatic rise in the car companies’ launch of promotional campaigns with lower prices and more affordable interest rates. The companies also increase their sales to the fleet market, according to sector representatives.