In October 2023, Turkey’s car production rose %19. The automotive industry is Turkey’s main export sector. This sector has made Turkey a world center for research, development, and production in the automotive industry. Automobile producers have chosen Türkiye as a production site for their export sales in recent years. In addition, Türkiye has been the leading exporter of vehicles to European markets for about a decade. Turkey is the location of many worldwide suppliers. More than 250 global suppliers use Turkey as a production hub, including 30 of the world’s top 50 suppliers.

Production in the automotive industry rose by 18.6 percent year-on-year to 136,177 units in October, according to data from the Automotive Manufacturers’ Association (OSD).

More than 91,000 passenger cars were produced last month, up 46.7% on October 2022, while commercial vehicle production by carmakers slumped 15% to around 45,000.

The production of vans fell by 19% year-on-year, while bus production rose by 41%.

In October, the market grew by 52% and a total of 105,154 vehicles were sold, with passenger car sales up by more than 74% to around 83,000, according to OSD.

Turkish imports of passenger cars increased by 77% to 52,482, while the share of imported cars in the local market stood at 63.5% in October, down from 66.5% in the previous month and 79% in August.

The industry’s total vehicle deliveries abroad increased by 7.4%. Exports of passenger cars, meanwhile, rose by 31% to around 67,000 since October 2022.

Export revenues amounted to USD 3.14 billion, corresponding to an increase of 16% compared to the previous year.

Automobile manufacturers produced 1.2 million vehicles in the first ten months of 2023, an increase of 12.4% compared to the January-October period last year, with passenger car production up 23% to more than 773,000.

Overall vehicle sales were almost 1 million, a year-on-year increase of 62%. Sales of passenger cars increased by 68% to 750,000 units.

The export income of the automotive industry reached $29.3 billion in the January-October period, an increase of 15.5% over the previous year.

Calculated in euros, exports rose 12.8 percent to 27.1 billion euros, according to the OSD. By the end of 2023, total car exports could reach $35 billion, since car production exceeded one million units in January-September.