Turkey September 2018: Civic repeats at #1 in freefalling market (-75%)

The Honda Civic is the best-selling vehicle in Turkey for the 2nd month running and ever.

* See the Top 40 All-brands and Top 230 All-models by clicking on the title *

The economic crisis Turkey is currently enduring hit its worst in August, with inflation reaching 18% – a 15-year high – and the Turkish lira losing 55% of its value against the US dollar since the start of the year, hitting an-all-time high 6.86. This value has since reduced to roughly 6.15 but September new car sales mostly reflect the low situation the country reached at the end of summer, with deliveries down an abysmal 75% to just 23.028 units, leading to a year-to-date volume down 36.9% to 453.456 and following from a 14.8% drop in May, 39% in June, 35.9% in July and 52.6% in August.

Volvo gains 21% year-on-year in a market down 75%, mainly thanks to the new XC40.

Renault (-65%) manages to fall slightly slower than the market, holding onto the brands pole position at 13.8% share ahead of Ford (-69%) at 10.2% and Volkswagen (-78%) at 9.7%. Honda (-4%) once again defies the market forces and climbs up a further two spots on August to #4, eclipsing Fiat (-83%) and Toyota (-66%). Nissan (-31%), Dacia (-57%), Mercedes (-62%) and Hyundai (-63%) “resist” and grab largest market shares in the remainder of the Top 10. Below, Volvo (+21%) up 6 spots on August to #14 and Mazda (+21%) up 8 to #22 are the only two carmakers posting a year-on-year gain in September, and only Karsan (-4%) and Alfa Romeo (-13%) manage to lose less than 30%…

The Mercedes X-Class is the best-selling recent launch in Turkey at #55.

Model-wise, the Honda Civic (+8%) repeats at #1 for only the second time in Turkish history, going agains the grain of the market and the only nameplate in positive in the Top 40 alongside the Hyundai Tucson (+3%) at #9 and Nissan Micra (+198%) at #24. The Renault Megane (-42%) remains in 2nd place but cements its YTD leadership ahead of the Fiat Egea (-85%) down to #10 this month. The VW Passat (-62%), Ford Transit (-53%) and Nissan Qashqai (-16%) complete the Top 5 with the Mercedes X-Class (#55), Skoda Karoq (#58) and Volvo XC40 (#62) the best-selling recent launches (<12 months).

Previous month: Turkey August 2018: Honda Civic best-seller in market down 52.6%

One year ago: Turkey September 2017: Fiat Egea and VW Passat top market up 5.6%

Full September 2018 Top 40 All-brands and Top 230 All-models below.