Turkey vehicle registrations fall in May as Izmir records sharp decline

Turkey's vehicle registration authority (TÜİK) reported that only 159,623 motor vehicles were newly registered in May, a drop of 24.1% compared with May 2022 and 12.3% lower than April. Cars accounted for 47.5% of the registrations and motorcycles 37.2%; vans and trucks made up the remainder. The slowdown coincided with a rapid rise in electric and hybrid cars, which together comprised more than 50% of the 382,385 new cars registered in the January‑May period, with roughly one electric car for every five new cars.

In the western city of Izmir, 9,168 vehicles were registered in May, an 18.2% month‑on‑month decline, but the city remained Turkey's third‑largest source of new registrations after Istanbul and Ankara. Of Izmir’s new registrations, cars represented 45%, motorcycles 40%, and light trucks 11.6%, with smaller shares for tractors, trucks, minibuses, buses and special‑purpose vehicles. Nationwide the total vehicle fleet rose to 34.36 million, with cars making up 51.8% of the park and motorcycles 21.4%.