By Muhsin Baris Tiryakioglu

ANKARA

Turkey's total electric and hybrid car sales increased by 805.6 percent to 2,763 in the first nine months of 2017, compared to 300 in first nine months of 2016, according to Turkey's Electric and Hybrid Vehicles Association.

The association's statistics showed that sales of just hybrid cars, which combine a normal petrol or diesel engine with an electric motor, increased nine fold to 2,717 in the first nine months of 2017 compared to the same period of 2016.

In the first nine months of last year, only 38 electric cars were purchased, while 46 electric cars were sold during the same period of 2017.

In Turkey's automotive market, the best selling hybrid car was the Toyota C-HR Hybrid with 2,184 sales, in the first nine months.

Toyota C-HR Hybrid is followed by the Toyota RAV4 Hybrid with 130 sales, Toyota Yaris Hybrid had 117 sales and 106 sales were made for the Toyota Auris Hybrid.

Toyota has started production of its new C-HR crossover model, the first hybrid model in the country, in their Sakarya plant in the industrial region of northwest Turkey in late 2016

According to Toyota, the company’s plant in Turkey already exports around 80 percent of its production to Europe and is planning to gradually expand its export destinations outside Europe to include the U.S., Canada, Taiwan, Mauritius and South Africa. Total production capacity has increased from 150,000 to 280,000 vehicles per year.

The founder of Turkey Electric and Hybrid Vehicles, Berkan Bayram, said that 45 thousand electric cars were sold worldwide in 2011, and sales reached to 2 million last year. He envisages that this exponential increase will continue.

"Four out of 10 cars will be electric in 2025, so Turkey should increase investments in automotive and battery technologies, specifically lithium-ion-based batteries," Bayram said.