Saturday, 08 January 2005 22:25
Motor Vehicle Manufacturing for 2004 both Worldwide and in Turkey
The International Organization of Motor Vehicle Manufacturers (OICA – Organization Internationale des Constructeurs d’Automobiles) recently published their 2004 statistics. The outcome was a 5.5% increase with manufactured motor vehicles totaling 64.071.715. America took first place in the manufacturer ranking while Japan followed in second and Germany in third place. China fell into forth place with an overall 14% increase.
The top ten countries manufactured 50.064.683 vehicles which equivalates to 78% of the global manufacturing market. By increasing their production by 54.4%, Turkey moved up a step to seventeenth place.
Turkey produced 447.152 cars and 376.256 commercial vehicles, in total 823.408 vehicles in 2004 which made them sixth in the “Country who increased their production most” category. Other countries in this category were; Poland - who came first with an increase of 86%, Colombia (85.1%), Austria (78.1%), Ukraine (73.2%) and Uzbekistan (72.7%). Among the countries in question Poland stood out with its 599000 production figure while the others’ production figures changed between 37000 – 248000.
In 2004 Turkey exported to 162 countries and autonomous regions ranging over five continents and 13 free zones. Automotive exports totaled 5.571.909.000.- usd. 72% of automotive exports were done to 24 European Union countires. The exports to Germany, Italy, France, United Kingdom and Spain formed more than half of the all export. In the European Union, Turkey came eighth in car manufacturing, third in light and commercial vehicle manufacturing and forth in heavy truck manufacturing. These figures set forth that Turkey is an important commercial vehicle manufacturing centre.
The figures are an indication that competition will increase amongst automotive manufacturing countries in coming years. Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Romania and Russia are the countries that will put a strain on Turkey in this race. European manufacturers, looking to reduce their increasing costs, are especially showing an interest in countries which have recently joined the European Union. Countries who have recently joined the European Union are being preferred due to cheap workmanship and being at a distance where logistics services are easily obtained. Nowadays, India, China and Iran are also starting to be noticed.
