Turkish automotive sector to recover in 2020: Report

By Gokhan Ergocun

ISTANBUL (AA) - 2020 will be a year of recovery for Turkey's automotive production and exports, according to a report by audit and consultancy firm KPMG Turkey, released on Wednesday.

The firm's report said that the first Turkish indigenous car, introduced last December, and Volkswagen's investment plans in the country may increase industrial investments in Turkey.

Volkswagen, which already has an established production firm in Turkey, is expected to make the decision for its factory investment in 2020, the report noted.

The automotive sector, one of the country's locomotives, had difficulties in 2019. While 1 million auto sales had been made in the domestic market in 2017, these decreased by 35% in 2018 and by 23% in 2019 to 492,000 units.

The country's automotive production and exports also narrowed by 9% and 5%, respectively, in 2019, versus the previous year. Turkey's automotive exports were $31.2 billion last year.

The sector employs around 500,000 people.

According to the report, the country will see 580,000 auto sales in 2020, with an annual increase of 18%.

The report also forecasted that the country will produce over 1.4 million vehicles and export more than 1.2 million of them this year.

Meanwhile, it predicted a slowdown in the global market, including in the U.S. and China.

The report said the destructive effects of technology would continue saying: "The automobile is becoming a technologic and smart vehicle rather than a four-wheeled transportation vehicle."

The coming decade will see more impactful changes than the past 50 years, it added.

While the share of new business fields was $0.1 trillion in the $5.5-trillion automotive sector in 2015, this will reach $4.3 trillion in a $7.7-trillion sector by 2030.

The income of the taxi and fuel sectors will drop by 38% in the same period, the report added.