“Electrification” Continues In The Turkish Car Market
Sales of "fully electric" cars in Turkey reached 14,158 in the first quarter of the year, an increase of 275.9 percent compared to the same period of 2023.
According to data compiled by the AA correspondent from the Automotive Distributors and Mobility Association (ODMD), the Turkish automobile and light commercial vehicle market grew by 25.2 percent in the first quarter compared to the same period last year, reaching 295 thousand 519 units.
In this period, automobile sales increased by 33.05 percent to 233 thousand 389 and light commercial vehicle sales increased by 2.6 percent to 62 thousand 130 units.
Gasoline cars ranked first
In the said period, gasoline cars ranked first with 156 thousand 396 units and hybrid cars ranked second with 33 thousand 131 in the sales ranking of the Turkish automobile market.
Diesel car sales were 25 thousand 268 and autogas car sales were 2 thousand 38. Sales of fully electric cars powered only by electricity were recorded as 14 thousand 158 units.
When vehicles with a system that provides power to the wheels by running an electric motor with a gasoline engine generator to charge the battery in the vehicle (extended range) are included, the number of electric car sales increased to 16 thousand 556. Extended range cars are also classified as “electric” in the Customs Tariff Statistics Position (GTIP).
Diesel and autogas car sales on the decline
In the first quarter of the year, gasoline car sales increased by 33.3 percent compared to the same period of 2023, while diesel sales decreased by 19.5 percent and autogas sales by 26.2 percent. In this period, hybrid car sales increased by 71.8 percent and fully electric cars by 275.9 percent.
It is stated that one of the main reasons for the decrease in diesel car sales is that “global manufacturers continue to terminate the production of diesel cars, thus not offering new diesel cars to the market”.
Fully electric cars have a 6.1 percent market share
The share of gasoline cars in sales, which was 66.9 percent in the first quarter of last year, increased to 67 percent in the same period of this year. The share of diesel cars decreased from 17.9 percent to 10.8 percent and the share of autogas cars decreased from 1.6 percent to 0.9 percent.
In the said period, the share of total sales increased from 2.1 percent to 6.1 percent for fully electric cars and from 11 percent to 14.2 percent for hybrids. Considered as full electric, extended range electric and hybrid, 21.3 percent of the total market consisted of vehicles with electric motors.
Number of sales in March was 5 thousand 903
On the other hand, a total of 5,903 “fully electric” cars were sold in March this year. Thus, the market share of “full electric” cars in March was recorded as 6.8 percent.
Turkey is expected to sell 120 thousand electric cars this year. Industry representatives state that with the development of the electric car market, manufacturers will continue to offer their latest models for sale in Turkey.
