Chip Crisis Sets Turkey's Automotive Production Back 8 Years

Problems such as chips, supply and raw materials took Turkey's automotive production back 8 years. While the total production in the first quarter was 302 thousand, the number of automobiles produced was at the same level as 166 with 2014 thousand units. Since the production was low and export-oriented, the citizens could not buy domestic cars, which were a little more affordable in terms of price. In March, only 17 domestic cars were sold in the domestic market.

According to the news of Taylan Özgür Dil from Hürriyet newspaper; The chip crisis, supply problem, logistics problems and lack of raw materials took Turkey's automotive production back 8 years. According to the Automotive Industry Association (OSD) data, total production in the first three months of this year decreased by 3 percent compared to the same period of the previous year and became 12 units. Automobile production decreased by 302 percent and remained at 730 thousand 21.5 units. The automotive industry last saw these first quarter figures in 166. While the total production in the January-March period of 363 was 2014 thousand 2014 units, automobile production was recorded as 255 thousand 500 units, almost at the same level as this year.

The place where the crisis in production was felt the most was in the production of passenger cars, namely automobiles. Looking at the March data alone, the number of cars produced in Turkey decreased by 2021 percent compared to March 24 and remained at 57 thousand 41 units. The fact that the industry, which exports the majority of its production, could not unload enough cars from the production lines, also affected the domestic production sales in the domestic market. Since the produced vehicles were limited and export-oriented, citizens had difficulty in finding domestically produced cars that were slightly more affordable than imported vehicles. Automotive Distributors Association (ODD) data revealed that only 17 domestic production cars were sold in March.

IMPORT SHARE 65 PERCENT

While the demand in Europe could not be met due to the problems in domestic automobile production, the share of imports in domestic automobiles continued to increase. The share of imported automobiles, which was 2021 percent in the total of 59.8, has increased regularly since the beginning of this year, reaching 65.4 percent in March. On the other hand, in the total of the first 3 months, the share of imports in the automobile market was 64 percent. In the same period, the share of imports in the light commercial vehicle (minibus + pickup truck) market was 40 percent. On the other hand, the capacity utilization rate of the Turkish automotive industry in the January-March period was announced as 62 percent.