Turkey October 2018: Honda Civic sole survivor in imploding market (-76.6%)

The Honda Civic, interest-free for the month, remains Turkey’s best-seller.

* See the Top 42 All-brands and Top 220 All-models by clicking on the title *

Just as inflation rates reach their highest level in 15 years, the nightmare year continues for the Turkish new car market, and even worsens with sales freefalling at -76.6% to 21.571 units, following a 14.8% drop in May, 39% in June, 35.9% in July, 52.6% in August and -75% in September. As a result the year-to-date volume is down 32.6% at 485.027. In the brands ranking, Fiat (-77%) is up 4 spots on September to take the lead and Ford (-77%) remains at #2, both carmakers matching the market whereas Honda (-2%) once again posts a fantastic performance, by far the best hold and the only carmaker to drop less than 62% (!) in the Top 15. In fact, among the remaining brands selling more than 10 units this month, only Alfa Romeo (+14%) is in positive, and only Volvo (-27%) and Porsche (-49%) manage to lose less than half their sales vs. October 2017. An absolute butchery indeed, with Audi (-95%), Isuzu (-91%), Opel (-88%), Renault (-86%), Seat (-85%), BMW (-83%), Peugeot (-82%), Volkswagen (-82%), Citroen (-81%), Suzuki (-81%) and Mazda (-80%) the hardest hit.

The best-selling model in Turkey for the month, the Honda Civic (+22%) signs a third consecutive win and manages to be the only Top 40 nameplate in positive, with the next best performing nameplates being the Hyundai Tucson (-24%), Nissan Micra (-36%) and Ford Ranger (-45%) and the remaining 36 models all losing at least half their sales vs. October 2017. One element helping the Civic stay afloat again is Honda’s offer throughout October, raiding the 12 months interest-free credit limit for the model to 50 thousand TL. The Volvo S60 (+74%), Citroen Jumpy (+21%), Suzuki Baleno (+21%), Alfa Romeo Giulietta (+5%), Kia Niro (+5%) and Seat Ateca (+4%) are the only other models in positive inside the Top 120. The Skoda Karoq (#54) is up four spots on last month to top all recent launches (<12 months) ahead of the Ford Ecosport at #70 (+32), Seat Arona at #87 (+31), Opel Grandland X at #89 (+21), Mercedes X-Class at #94 (-39) and Volvo XC40 at #95 (-33).

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

One year ago: Turkey October 2017: Fiat Egea, Renault Megane and Clio on top

Full October 2018 Top 42 All-brands and Top 220 All-models below.