Ministry to probe automotive market

The Trade Ministry has launched a probe into the automotive market to securitize prices and supplies.

Inspectors have been appointed to look into the activities that allegedly aimed at distorting the market for new and second-hand cars, causing bottlenecks and preventing consumers from accessing vehicles, Trade Minister Mehmet Muş said on Twitter.

The local automotive sector is still suffering from chip shortages, elevated raw material prices and availability problems.

Demand has been on the rise for second-hand cars as there are fewer new cars in the market.

Consumers unleashed pent-up demand after the government announced new special consumption tax rates for vehicles, said Hayrettin Ertemel, the president of the Istanbul Motor Vehicle Sellers' Association (İMAS).

Demand for both new and second-hand cars is on the rise, pushing up prices by around 10 percent, according to Ertemel.

Prices of second-hand cars rise in line with the prices of new cars, he said.

Some companies are opting for small hikes in prices, while prices of some models have been increased by 30,000 liras, daily Milliyet reported.

Dealers say as demand shifts from new to second-hand cars, prices of the latter are increasing. Consumers are acting now, anticipating that prices may go up further in the coming months.

One dealer said the 2019 and older models are the favorite of consumers. "All models sell like hot cake, no matter what their price is…500,000 Turkish Liras or 1.5 million liras."

The second-hand market made a good start into 2023, said Gökhan Ardeşen, a car dealer. "We sold six cars by noon today. Sales grew 20 percent over the past 20 days."