Global carmakers increased sales in 2025, yet profitability came under pressure as intensified competition, pricing constraints and the costly transition to electric vehicles weighed on balance sheets.
Türkiye mirrored this global trend. Despite record-breaking sales, net profits of six automotive companies listed on Borsa İstanbul fell by 37.4 percent to 44.6 billion Turkish Liras.
The Turkish automotive market expanded by 10.49 percent in 2025, surpassing 1.3 million units sold and reaching its highest level in history. However, this surge in volume did not translate into proportional profit growth. The combined net profit of Doğuş Otomotiv, Ford Otosan, Karsan Otomotiv, Otokar, Tofaş Türk Otomobil Fabrikası, and Türk Traktör dropped from 71.3 billion liras in 2024 to 44.6 billion liras in 2025. Anadolu Isuzu and Tümosan have yet to release their financial results and were not included in the tally.
Five key factors eroded profitability: Intensifying competition in the domestic market, rising costs from imported vehicles and parts despite supportive export revenues from EUR/TL movements, margin pressure from the growing share of electric vehicles, higher borrowing and financing expenses, and the disappearance of deferred tax income that had boosted 2024 results.
Among the listed firms, only Tofaş and Karsan managed to increase net profits. Tofaş posted a 22.2 percent rise, climbing to 8.3 billion liras, while Karsan boosted its earnings by 74.6 percent to 179 million liras. Otokar reduced its losses significantly, narrowing from 4 billion liras in 2024 to 1.4 billion liras in 2025.
The steepest decline came from Türk Traktör, whose net profit plunged 93.9 percent to 455 million liras. Doğuş Otomotiv’s earnings fell 69.2 percent to 3 billion liras, while Ford Otosan reported 33.9 billion liras in net profit, down 33.1 percent year-on-year. Ford Otosan’s decline was largely attributed to the disappearance of deferred tax income recorded in 2024, which turned into a tax expense of approximately 4.4 billion liras in 2025.
