Tesla sales in Turkey jumped sharply in August, making the US electric carmaker the country’s second best-selling auto brand for the month, Reuters reported on Tuesday.
Tesla sold 8,730 Model Y vehicles, an 86 percent increase from July, according to data from the Automotive Distributors and Mobility Association (ODMD). The figure put Tesla ahead of local bestsellers Fiat, Volkswagen, Toyota and Hyundai, trailing only Renault.
The company accounted for half of all electric vehicles sold in August, industry consultancy EBS Danışmanlık said. BYD, the Chinese EV maker, sold 1,639 units, while Turkey’s domestic electric-only brand TOGG sold 1,249.
Analysts said the August surge reflected both supply allocations from Tesla’s German plant and Turkish buyers’ interest in electric vehicles as a hedge against currency depreciation and to benefit from lower tax rates.
Turkey’s EV market share has held at about 20 percent over the past three months, up from 8 percent last year. Tesla’s base Model Y, the only model available in Turkey, falls under the country’s lowest tax bracket, which is far below the rate applied to conventional combustion engine cars.
The Turkish lira has lost more than 80 percent of its value in recent years, prompting some buyers to view Teslas, priced in euros, as a store of value.
From January through August Tesla sold about 26,000 vehicles in Turkey, more than four times the figure for the same period last year. TOGG was the second best-selling EV, with sales up 42 percent year on year.
Overall, Turkey’s light vehicle market, including cars and commercial vans, rose 5 percent to 1.3 million units in cumulative 12-month terms as of August, hitting a record high.