Turkey’s automotive production rises 34 percent in August

ISTANBUL - Reuters

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Turkey’s automotive production rose by 34 percent in August to 76,987 units, according to data from the Automotive Industrialists’ Association (OSD). 

The sector produced a total of 857,307 units in the first eight months of the year, marking a 19 percent increase from the same period of 2014, data released on Sept. 10 showed. 

While Turkey exports some 70 percent of the cars and light commercial vehicles it produces, around 66 percent of domestic sales are made up of overall imported vehicles. 

The share of imported cars in the domestic market is around 75 percent and the shared of imported light commercial vehicles is 44 percent.

According to the OSD data, the volume of car production rose by 21 percent to 45,210 units and of light commercial production by 59 percent to 31,777 units in August, compared to the same month of 2014. 

The volume of car production rose by 9 percent to 499,652 units and the volume of light commercial vehicle production rose by 37 percent to 357,655 units in the first eight months of the year compared to the same period of 2014. 

Car exports decreased by 1 percent to 376,970 units in the first eight months of 2015 compared to the same period of 2014. Light commercial vehicle exports rose by 26 percent in the same period to 239,956 units. 

Oyak-Renault exported the highest number of vehicles with 166,178 units in the first eight months of the year, followed by Ford Otosan with 154,542 units, Hyudai Assan with 127,333 units and Tofaş with 109,720 units, according to the OSD data. 

Automotive sales rose by 46 percent to 453,817 units in the domestic market in the first eight months of the year compared to the same period of 2014.