The northwestern Turkish province of Sakarya exported 108,841 of the 162,696 vehicles produced in its factories in the first nine months of 2026, or 66.89%, Anadolu Agency reported on Oct. 14, citing industry data.
The province’s automotive exports were worth $3.33 billion in January-September, according to figures from the Turkish Exporters Assembly (TİM), making Sakarya the country’s fourth-largest automotive exporting province after Kocaeli, Bursa and Istanbul.
Toyota dominates output
Toyota’s plant in Arifiye, one of the Japanese carmaker’s main European production bases, accounted for the bulk of the activity. It built 143,778 cars and exported 98,046 of them in the nine-month period.
Tractor maker TürkTraktör ranked second, producing 14,913 tractors and exporting 9,225. Bus and military vehicle maker Otokar came third, with 4,005 buses, midibuses, small trucks and pickups produced and 1,570 exported.
By vehicle type, Sakarya’s output comprised 143,778 cars, 14,913 tractors, 1,595 midibuses, 1,386 buses, 992 small trucks and 32 pickups. On average, about 595 vehicles rolled off production lines in the province every day.
A key piece of Türkiye’s auto industry
Sakarya accounted for 16.49% of Türkiye’s total vehicle production and 15.65% of its vehicle exports in the period. Nationwide, Turkish factories built 986,584 vehicles between January and September and exported 695,052 of them, according to the Automotive Manufacturers Association (OSD).
The automotive industry is one of Türkiye’s largest export sectors. Global carmakers including Toyota, Ford, Renault, Hyundai and Stellantis’s Fiat brand operate plants in the country, mainly in the industrial belt around the Sea of Marmara, supplying markets in Europe in particular under Türkiye’s customs union with the European Union.
The province sits on the main highway and rail corridor between Istanbul and Ankara, close to the ports of the Gulf of İzmit, which has helped it attract export-oriented manufacturers.
Mixed picture for the sector
The strong export performance contrasts with a weaker picture in the domestic market and in total production. National vehicle output fell 5.9% in the first nine months of the year, according to OSD data reported earlier this month, while imported models have taken a dominant share of car sales in Türkiye.
Manufacturers have also faced rising costs at home, with annual consumer inflation still close to 30%, which weighs on their competitiveness in export markets.
Sources
Photo: Volker Höhfeld / CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
