China overtakes Turkey in Europe

Although Turkey’s locomotive sector, automotive, has increased its exports, it has started to lag behind in foreign competition. In Europe, which is the most important market in the sector, we moved from Turkey to China. In 2021, Turkey’s auto exports to Europe were $8.6 billion, while China’s exports were $7.6 billion. Last year, Turkey again achieved $8.6 billion in exports, while China exported $15.5 billion, surpassing Turkey.

Expressing that 25 percent of China’s exports consist of electric vehicles, the president of the Association of the Automotive Industry (OSD), Cengiz Eroldu, stated that a significant part of this export is made up of the production of European brands in China. Explaining that additional taxes on car imports from China would not work, Eroldu stressed that China should invest in Turkey.

MUST BE AHEAD ON THE AGENDA

Stating that nationalist movements in the world have also affected the industry and on-site production has come to the fore, Eroldu stressed that Turkey must renew its policies from the very beginning.

Eroldu said: “How will we protect our industry against this? It should be one of the important items on Turkey’s agenda. Because it is a very important industry for the Turkish economy. Without compromising where we come from, we can boost these industries.
We have to take it,” he said.