Car production and exports decline
The sector’s total exports also decreased by 1 percent in this period. Exports are said to decline further with the escalation of the recession in Europe, one of Turkey’s most important export markets. Car production decreased from 496 thousand 302 units to 339 thousand 403 units in this period. Total auto production in the first eight months of the year increased 2 percent compared to the same period a year earlier and reached 833,146 units. Along with the production of tractors, total production amounted to 863 thousand 268 units.
In the January-August period, commercial vehicle production increased 11 percent compared to the same period a year earlier. In this period, while production in the heavy commercial vehicle group increased by 27 percent, production in the light commercial vehicle group increased by 10 percent. In the first 8 months of the year, the auto industry’s capacity utilization rate was 64 percent. On a vehicle group basis, capacity utilization rates were 65 percent in cars and light commercial vehicles, 82 percent in the truck group, 35 percent in the bus-midibus group, and 60 percent on the tractor.
The problems experienced in the supply of spare parts for vehicles, especially the chip crisis, and the concerns about the recession in Europe negatively affect the automotive industry. It is claimed that cost increases will be reflected in car prices in the coming period.
‘Prices of new vehicles will continue to rise’
– The logistics, raw materials and energy crisis, which began before the end of the chip crisis, caused prices in the automotive industry to increase exponentially. Cardata General Manager Hüsamettin Yalçın said that in the January-September period this year, the rate of increase in the prices of zero-kilometer vehicles increased to 50 percent, and the prices of new vehicles will increase by Turkey and the rest of the world in the coming period. Yalçın also stated that due to the increase in the prices of zero kilometer vehicles, it has become mandatory to update the tax base in the SCT.
Second in the industry
In the January-August period, automobile exports decreased 1 unit percent compared to the same period of the previous year, and amounted to 591 thousand 156 units. In the first 8 months, commercial vehicle exports increased by 10 percent. Total exports from the automotive industry ranked second in sectoral exports with a 12 percent share. Again in this period, total auto exports increased 4 percent compared to 2021 and reached $19.9 billion.