Auto sales rise 14.6 percent in July, driven by demand for EVs

ISTANBUL

Türkiye’s automotive market continued its upward momentum in July 2025, with total passenger car and light commercial vehicle sales increasing by 14.55 percent year-on-year, reaching 107,718 units.

According to the Automotive Distributors and Mobility Association (ODMD), passenger car sales rose 14.71 percent to 84,195 units, while light commercial vehicle sales climbed 13.96 percent to 23,523 units.

Electric vehicles (EVs) saw a remarkable surge in July. Sales of EVs jumped 193.7 percent compared to July 2024, totaling 17,437 units and accounting for 20.7 percent of the monthly passenger car market.

EV sales for January–July hit 103,310 units, capturing 18.1 percent of the market — up 127.8 percent from the previous year.

However, experts are worried that a recent tax overhaul, which raised the lowest Special Consumption Tax (SCT) rate from 10 percent to 25 percent, may impact EV sales.

The change has triggered a wave of price hikes across top-selling models, pushing some EV prices close to 2.5 million Turkish Liras (approx. $76,000).

Among the most affected models is the domestically produced Togg T10X, which saw its price jump by 29 percent to 2.36 million liras. Tesla’s Model Y followed with a 20 percent increase, now selling for 2.24 million liras.

Togg delivered 19,821 vehicles in January-July, while Tesla’s sales were 17,026 units, showed ODMD data.

For the first seven months of 2025, total automotive sales in Türkiye reached 715,695 units, marking a 6.5 percent increase compared to the same period last year.

Passenger car sales totaled 572,198 units, rising 6.68 percent year-on-year.