The last 7 years have proven tough for forecourts, with car dealers complaining about the lack of new car sales.
However in 2013 the tide appears to have turned, despite the current economic difficulties in North Cyprus.
New car sales for the first 5 months of 2013 stood at 1,378 – A 12% increase on the same period last year.
However dealers are unhappy with this increase and are calling on the government to encourage more car sales by including the dropping of state taxes and levies. North Cyprus faces vehicle import duties of 50%, a figure that many dealers point to as a reason for poor sales.
The most popular makes bought in North Cyprus from January to May were Hyundai who sold 346 cars , followed by Ford with 274 sales and Mercedes with 262.
Compared with global rates on import duty, the TRNC duty is quite high but falls well behind some other countries such as India at 100% and Brazil which has a staggering 340% import duty on foreign vehicles.
