Hello,
Production and export data for the first three months of this year published by the Automotive Industry Association (OSD) tests both the resistance of the automotive industry, the flagship of our country’s economy, against global fluctuations and its performance in the structural transformation process. Especially the 2025 year-end data and the first signals for the first quarter of 2026 indicate that we are at a critical threshold in terms of the sector’s production capacity and export power.
If we remember, the year 2025 was a historical turning point for our automotive industry. Total automotive exports increased compared to the previous year and reached 41.5 billion dollars, breaking an all-time record. The sector continued to maintain its leadership with a share of .5 in Turkey’s total exports.
On the production front, a complex picture prevailed. Total Production: Increased by 4%, reaching 1 million 419 thousand 464 units. However, although total production increased, automobile production decreased by 3.5% and remained at the level of 872 thousand 538 units. The main engine of production increase was commercial vehicles. Especially the growth in the heavy commercial and light commercial groups more than compensated for the contraction in the automobile group.
In 2025, the domestic market remained vibrant despite the high interest rate environment and credit constraints, and automobile sales increased and exceeded 1 million 84 thousand units. However, the remarkable issue was the increasing pressure on imported vehicles in the market. While the share of imports in the automobile and light commercial vehicle market remained at p levels, the share of domestically produced vehicles remained around 0. This situation clearly shows that the domestic industry needs to increase competitiveness and diversity in the domestic market.
As for the first quarter of 2026; We are faced with a more cautious start compared to the strong picture of 2025. In the first three months of the year, we experienced a total production loss of 321 thousand 856 units, reaching 6.5%. In particular, the decline in automobile production reached an alarming level. The capacity utilization rate of the sector was at ` levels.
In short, the first quarter data of the year, including March 2026 results, paint a contrasting picture. In summary, we are in a period where revenue continues to increase while volumes are decreasing and commercial vehicles are taking over automobiles.
Although our total vehicle exports decreased in terms of units, our total export revenue increased by 3.3%, reaching 9.7 billion dollars, as the unit value of the vehicles we exported increased. So even though we sold fewer vehicles, we earned more.
Despite the loss of blood in automobile production, commercial vehicle production increased and maintained the production balance of the sector. Particularly the growth in heavy commercial sector was remarkable.
On the other hand, although there was a general contraction of 4% in the domestic market in the first three months, the share of domestic vehicles in automobile sales increased to 6. This shows that the pressure on imported vehicles has eased to some extent and domestic production is preferred.
In general, as of the end of March 2026, the industry will “downshiftedAlthough it may seem like “, it maintains its export leadership with its financial efficiency and rise in the commercial vehicle segment.
The problems behind the slowdown in exports are the saturation of demand in the European market, global logistics costs and the lack of variety of the models we produce due to the conversion to electric vehicles.
If we make a general evaluation; OSD data shows that Turkey is a “commercial vehicle base“, but the pressure of global competition and technological transformation is felt on the automobile side. The export success of 41.5 billion dollars in 2025 proved how strong the sector is not only in vehicles but also in the supply industry (parts and components). If we remember, our supply industry exports increased by 6%.
In order for Turkey to make this success sustainable in the coming period; Adaptation to green transformation and the increase in the production volume and variety of new generation vehicles powered by electric energy, especially TOGG, are very, very important. In addition, a strategy to expand into alternative markets outside Europe is also vital. We will see whether our automotive industry will be able to overcome the contraction in the first quarter with new model launches and recovery in foreign markets for the rest of 2026.
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