The Turkish auto industry has offset its losses in the contracting European markets by exploring alternative markets around the world, including in revitalized Arab countries.
The industry has increased its exports to Iraq by 121 percent, to Libya by 173 percent, and has sold automobiles for the first time to Togo, Dubai, the Netherlands Antilles, Tajikistan, Malawi, Trinidad and Tobago, Rwanda, Jamaica, Namibia, the Central Africa Republic, Nepal and the Comoros Islands in the first four months of 2012, according to data from the Turkey Exports Union (TİM) and the Union of Automotive Exporters (OİB).
Sales of cars to France shrank by 11.7 percent in the same period.
(Source: Hurriyet Daily News)