Interest in hybrid vehicles continues in the Turkish automotive market.
According to the data from the Automotive Distributors and Mobility Association, sales of hybrid cars increased by 217% in July, reaching 9,400 units. The market share of hybrids reached 10.9%. In July, 2,092 full hybrids, 379 plug-in hybrids, and 6,929 mild hybrids were sold. In the January-July period, a total of 53,049 hybrid cars were sold, accounting for 10.3% of the market.
Toyota, which is the brand with the highest sales of full hybrid vehicles in Türkiye, stated that hybrid technology is in high demand among retail and fleet customers.
Toyota Türkiye Marketing and Sales CEO Ali Haydar Bozkurt emphasized the significant interest from financial institutions and noted that Toyota's hybrid models are present in the fleets of 17 banks. Bozkurt continued, "Both individual customers and corporate companies are increasingly opting for hybrid vehicles due to lower fuel costs and their goal to reduce carbon footprint.
In the first seven months of the year, we dominated the full hybrid market with approximately 80% market share. Despite the availability issues we faced with hybrid vehicles, they accounted for 40% of our sales." Bozkurt mentioned that due to availability issues, they achieved sales around 28,000 units, below their potential, in the first seven months of the year.
He stated, "If there are no supply and logistics issues in the last quarter, we expect to exceed 50,000 units."
Bozkurt stated that with the arrival of more vehicles in the later part of 2023, Toyota's sales figures will increase, adding, "Our full hybrid models are the most preferred models globally. However, there was a supply issue with a part required for hybrid production. If we didn't experience supply issues, we had the potential to achieve sales of 40,000 units for the Corolla Sedan Hybrid model and at least 30,000 units for the Corolla Cross Hybrid model. We had the potential to close this year with 100,000 units. During months when we can find vehicles, we achieve a market share of 10-12%."
