Last month saw a very strong period of growth for Fiat Auto in the Turkish market, with the new Grande Punto dominating sales in the important B-segment. Fiat Auto is represented in Turkey by Tofaş, a 50-50 joint venture with the Koç Group.

The arrival of the Grande Punto in February rejuvenated Fiat's sales in a market that has seen the Turinese carmaker recently being much stronger in the light commercial sector, whilst the passenger car segment has lagged somewhat behind in difficult market conditions. During its first month on sale the Grande Punto was the second best-seller in the B-segment (behind the Ford Fiesta) but by March it had occupied the top slot, a position it has held ever since, a pattern which continued strongly last month.

This impressive achievement was turned in against a trend that saw the Turkish new car market fall in July by 40 pct year-on-year, and by 32 pct on June. At the same time Tofaş saw its overall market share climbing to 13.7 pct, its highest position for three years, as it overtook Renault to take up second position in the market and at the same time eat significantly into the advantage held by Ford, the Turkish automotive market leader. In the commercial vehicle sector Tofaş increased its overall advantage during July to 19.2 pct of the market, its best result since July 2003, a result which was driven on by increasing demand for the Doblò Cargo van range, which is assembled locally and also exported worldwide.
 

The excellent month's result "was made possible," according to Alfredo Altavilla, the Managing Director of Tofaş, "by the success of the Grande Punto in Turkey where the car came top of its segment, with almost 7,000 units sold from February until today." Its success, he added was just "like that of Doblò which is leader among commercial vehicles." The Tofaş joint venture also turned in record years during 2004 and 2005.

Fiat Auto's interests in Turkey are represented by Tofaş, a joint venture with the ambitious Koç Group, the nation's leading conglomerate whose wide spread of interests include durable consumer goods, retailing, banking, energy and oil. It also boasts Turkey's largest distribution network. As a sign of its strategic position within Fiat Auto, Tofas (which presently builds the Doblò range) is developing two brand-new vehicles at present. "Minicargo" is a new small light commercial vehicle project in which the French PSA Peugeot Citroën is a full partner. It is set to be built in numbers of 165,000 per year from 2007. Meanwhile "D200" is a new saloon car which is expected to receive the "family" styling features of the Grande Punto, and - like Minicargo - it is due to arrive on the market next year. D200 will be assembled in Brazil and China as well as Turkey, but - significantly - Tofaş was chosen to lead this project, rather than Fiat Brazil as would be expected. This year Tofaş has also begun supplying CKD kits of the Fiat Palio and Siena to Fiat Auto's new Russian partner Severstal Auto.