People turning to cars as ‘investment’
Taylan Özgür Dil- Istanbul
People who cannot afford a house as prices are rising fast are now buying cars to protect their savings, according to an executive of an automotive company.
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“New cars are more accessible than houses. Some 70 percent to 80 percent would buy cars because they needed one, but now they see cars as investment to protect their savings. Some are even buying a third or a fourth vehicle,” said Alpagut Girgin, general manager of Opel Turkey, citing a research his company commissioned.
The research inquired about how cars have become a new investment for Turks.
New cars are now a safe haven for people, he added.
Girgin expects the combined sales of passenger cars and commercial vehicles sales on the local market to be around 62,000 units in May. “Sales could reach 765,0000 units in the whole of 2022.”
Ali Haydar Bozkurt, chair of the Automotive Distributors’ Association (ODD), agreed that people now see cars as investment.
“There are two main reasons for that. First, cars are more affordable compared to other investments. A new car costs around 400,000 to 500,000 Turkish Liras, whereas the price of a house could go up to 4 million to 5 million liras. Secondly, it is much easier to cash in cars,” Bozkurt said.
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Car owners generally change their vehicles every four to five years, but nowadays, people are trying to sell even their three-year old cars, he said. “If they think they could sell their cars and buy a new one, they do so. Because they think the price of the car they want to buy will rise in the near future.”
Turkey’s automotive market shrank 2.4 percent in April, the ODD reported earlier this month. Passenger car sales plunged 5.8 percent from a year ago to 45,500 units, while light commercial vehicle sales rose by 10.4 percent to 14,500.
