Tofaş builds a range of vehicles including the Doblò and Fiorino light commercial van and passenger vehicle ranges (above) as well as the Palio hatchback and the Linea and Siena sedans.

Just as Tofaş reports a sharp first quarter revenue contraction, Fiat has become the top selling brand on the Turkish market after breaching the 10,000 passenger car and light commercial vehicle barrier. The news came from a senior Fiat representative, brand manager Okan Bas.

Fiat sold 10,032 vehicles in Turkey during April which gave it a market leading 19.1 percent share of all sales. The market shown a much-needed bounce in sales after a dreadful contraction during the first quarter. This was due to a cut in government new car tax rate from 37 to 18 percent, a scheme that will end of June 15. A total of 52,640 passenger cars and light commercial vehicles were sold in Turkey last month.

Fiat also holds top spot in the market for the year to date. From January to April it sold 19,781 cars and LCVs to take a 13.3 pct share of the Turkish market. Despite the downturn this compares will with 2008 when Fiat saw 61,043 sales for the full-year.

Bas sees the government tax incentives as putting around 50,000 extra cars into the market this year, he said that Fiat had been predicted that around 375,000 cars would be sold in Turkey this year before the tax cut was announced. Now Fiat has revised that total: "Now, we estimate it to be 425,000," he said.

Meanwhile Tofaş, the vehicle manufacturing 50-50 joint venture between Fiat Group and Turkish industrial conglomerate Koç Holdings, has announced a sharp contraction in revenues and profits for the first quarter. Sales fell 33 percent year-on-year to 872.46 million lira while net profits during the first quarter was 32.86 million lira down 60 percent from the same period a year ago. Tofaş builds a range of vehicles including the Doblò and Fiorino light commercial and passenger ranges as well as the Palio hatchback and the Linea and Siena sedans. It holds the intellectual property rights to the Fiorino which is also manufactured of behalf of PSA Peugeot-Citroën.

Total vehicle manufacturing by Tofaş, which is currently developing the next-generation Doblò van, during the first quarter fell to 42,200 from 80,507 during the same period last year while exports, which account for the bulk of production, halved in the first quarter to 32,678. "Despite all these negative factors, our company's domestic turnover jumped 64 percent compared to the previous year," Tofaş said in a statement, adding that: "he basic reason for the rise is the special consumption tax cut."

Tofaş Chief Executive Ali Pandir told the Reuters news agency last week that he sees sales revenue falling below 2008's 4.8 billion lira but he is optimistic that  a profit similar to the 175.75 million lira in turned in last year can be achieved. However he is concerned that the ending of the consumer tax rebate next month will see the domestic market slow up again.