Automotive Exports March 2021

Hybrid car sales
edge out LPG
cars in Turkey
Hybrid car sales in Turkey edged out sales
of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG)-powered
vehicles in the January-February period.
In the two-month period, a total of 6,979
hybrid cars were sold, compared with 3,658
LPG-powered units, according to Automotive
Distributers’ Association (ODD) data.
Hybrid car sales had an 8.7% share in the
market, while LPG-powered cars had
4.6%.
Overall, sales of cars and light
commercial vehicles were up by 37.4%,
hitting 102,232 units in the same period.
While hybrid car sales were up by 227.8%
year-on-year in January-February, LPGpowered
car sales were up by 7.9%.
Diesel-powered car sales, on the other
hand, were down by 15.5%.
Electric car sales also posted a significant
rise over the same period at 72.5%.
Both in January and February, Turkey’s
overall passenger and light commercial
vehicle sales have increased despite
the pandemic that slashed the market
elsewhere, for instance in Europe.
The sales surged 60.3% annually in
January, according to the earlier ODD
data while they were up 24.2% in
February compared with the same
month of last year.
A total of 43,728 vehicles were sold
across Turkey in January, while the
number reached 58,504 in February.
With a second consecutive monthly
growth, February’s sales were the
highest for that month in the last 10
years. In 2020, when the coronavirus
pandemic brought unprecedented
obstacles to the sector, from restrictions
to the supply gluts, the Turkish auto
industry managed to end the year on
a positive note in contrast to many
European countries.
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