Food delivery drives Turkish motorbike sales

Reuters

• 45% of vehicles registered in May were motorbikes
• 125% more motorbikes on road in past 12 months
• Food and grocery deliveries estimated to reach $4.3bn this year

Turkey has recorded a sharp rise in the number of motorcycles on its roads, as the online food delivery business in the country continues to expand.

A total of 223,541 vehicles were registered in May, and 45.4 percent of these were motorcycles and scooters according to data published by the Turkish Statistical Institute (TSI).

Cars were the second largest category, while minibuses, buses and special purpose vehicles each accounted for less than 0.5 percent of new registrations.

The number of total registrations rose 264.4 percent month on month and 98.3 percent year on year.

At the end of May, the total number of motor vehicles on Turkish roads reached 27,334,424. Cars continued to dominate, accounting for 53.5 percent of the total.

While motorcycles only accounted for 16.4 percent, they are growing much faster, with 125 percent more on roads in the last year, compared with 86.2 percent growth for cars.

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Motorcycles are a central part of the online food delivery market in Turkey, which is projected to reach $4.31 billion this year, and grow at an annual rate of 16.93 percent over the next four years to be worth $8.06 billion, according to Statista.

The grocery delivery segment is the fastest growing, set to increase by 37.2 percent in 2024, and is worth around $2.8 billion.

Yemeksepeti is the largest meal and food ordering platform in Turkey. Owned by Germany’s Delivery Hero, Yemeksepeti acquired Marketyo, an online grocery delivery platform operating in 60 Turkish cities, in August 2021.

Istanbul-based rival Getir has raised a total of $1.8 billion in funding, in a bid to challenge Yemeksepeti’s dominance and also expand outside Turkey, to markets such as the US and Europe.

The latest TSI data also showed that of all the cars registered in Turkey in May, the majority (66.8 percent) were gasoline-fueled, with hybrid cars making up just 1.1 percent and electric cars only accounting for 0.2 percent.

Fiat was the most popular brand, at 13.9 percent. It was followed by Renault at 12.3 percent and Volkswagen (10.6 percent).

In terms of colour, grey was favoured by 32.3 percent, followed by white (32.2 percent).