Auto production in Turkey increased by 23% y/y to 154,758 units in May, slightly up from the previous month’s 21% y/y rise, data from the Automotive Manufacturers’ Association (OSD) showed on June 8.

Auto output is expected to rise by 11% to more than 1.65mn units this year. Exports are set to increase in value to $27bn in 2017 from last year’s $24.2bn, but the domestic automotive market is heading for a sales volume contraction of 11%.

Automakers’ passenger car production rose by 37% y/y to 76,570 units in May versus the 36% y/y increase registered in April.

OSD also reported that in May total auto sales on the domestic market declined by 9% y/y to 87,476 units with the passenger car market contracting at 11% y/y in the month to 73,832.

Turkey’s auto export revenues jumped 27% y/y to $2.6bn in May while the export revenues showed a 23% y/y increase over January-May to stand at $12bn.

In the first five months of 2017, auto production moved up 22% y/y to a total of 727,997 units while passenger car output rose by 41% y/y to 506,747 units.

Total vehicle sales declined by 9% y/y to 325,193 units and passenger car sales fell by 10% y/y to 239,760 units in January-May, OSD data also showed.

In 2016, the country’s automotive output increased by 9% to 1.49mn units, with passenger car production rising 20% y/y. A total of 1.01mn vehicles were sold in the year - a figure that was almost unchanged from the previous year - while sales of passenger cars increased by 4% to 756,938 units.

Vehicle sales in Turkey declined for a fourth month in a row in May, data released on June 2 by the Automotive Distributors’ Association (ODD) shows.

Sales of passenger cars and light commercial vehicles (LCVs) fell by 9% y/y to 85,422 units in the month. Across January-May, sales also declined 9% y/y, falling to 317,500.

Over January-May, passenger car sales were down 10% y/y to 239,760 while LCV sales contracted 3% y/y to 77,740.

In April, Hayri Ece, secretary general of the ODD, said that the decline in Turkey's automotive sales was likely to deepen in the second quarter from the substantial fall in the first quarter due to foreign exchange impacts on prices.