Tofas Turk Otomobil Fabrikasi (TOASO.IS): Market share gain for Tofas offsets weak market data in December

INVESTMENT LIST MEMBERSHIP: Pan-Europe Buy List COVERAGE VIEW: NEUTRAL
News The Turkish Auto Distributors’ Association (ODD) published passenger car (PC) and light commercial vehicle (LCV) sales volume data for December 2012. Total market volumes (PC+ LCV) contracted by 10% in December. PC volumes were down 9% yoy, while LCV volumes were down 11% yoy. This implies 10% yoy contraction for total volumes for the year and 5% yoy contraction for 4Q12.   Analysis   December is an important month in terms of overall sales, representing c.15% of total sales made during the year. The month’s data implies 10% yoy contraction vs. our estimate of 5% yoy contraction for the market for the full year. In our view, earlier than expected end of campaigns to compensate for the autos special consumption tax (SCT) increase (came into effect in October) is one of the factors contributing to this.