IF IT IS true that your car is a symbol of your financial status, then things are looking up in the Turkish Cypriot north.
“Sales have exploded this year,” Cangar chief salesman Halil Debreli told the Cyprus Mail yesterday. “In the first 10 months of this year we have sold 1,200 Fords alone”.
For those who know the north, it is no secret that car sales are going through the roof, as numberplates, which indicate how recently the vehicle was imported, race through the alphabet. After years of seeing the same ancient and decrepit cars on the streets, the sudden influx of new vehicles is striking.
Automobile Importers Association head Cengiz Obekoglu says the number of cars imported this year is more than double that of last year.
“In the first 10 months of this year 3,600 brand new and 6,900 second-hand cars were imported.” The figures for last year were 2,100 and 3,980 respectively
Debreli believes there are several reasons for the explosion in car sales.
“The first reason is that the Turkish Lira is stable.” This is highly significant as most sales are done on hire purchase. In 2001 scores of Turkish Cypriots had vehicles repossessed when the notoriously unstable Turkish Lira crashed. But with exchange rates enjoying unprecedented stability, buyers are less fearful of being caught out.
“Another thing is the seven to eight thousand Turkish Cypriots working in the south,” Debreli says. He believes these workers bring around $120 million dollars into the north’s economy each year.
But Debreli believes the single biggest injection of cash comes from the sale of Greek Cypriot properties, the sales of which shot up dramatically after the rejection of the Annan plan in the south.
“They sell the properties and buy cars,” he says.
Ozbekoglu, however, believes the biggest boost to sales comes from a general atmosphere of optimism in the north.
“This is the biggest reason for the rise in sales. First the new government brought stability to the economy, and then the referendum got people thinking the Cyprus problem would soon be solved”.
He adds that people are still infected by the optimism brought about by the north’s ‘yes’ vote for the Annan plan.
“There has been so much happening this year that blew away the stagnation and depression of the past 30 years. There was great excitement when Cyprus joined the EU.
We all believe we will soon be in as well,” Ozbekoglu explains.
He adds that the boom is not only limited to car sales.
“A year ago the per capita income was just $4,500 per annum. Now it’s somewhere between seven and eight thousand and things are looking up in just about every sector of the economy.”
