COMPANY NEWS

AUTOMOBILE SALES WILL FALL 20 PERCENT

Writing by Thomas Grove; Editing by Greg Mahlich

ISTANBUL, Sept 7 (Reuters) - Turkish automobile sales will fall 20 percent in 2010 without more of the stimulus measures that have helped the troubled sector cut losses this year, said Oyak Cement and Automotive Companies chairman, Celal Caglar.

Oyak Group, one of Turkey's largest cement makers, also expects in 2009 to match or beat last year's cement sales, while revenue is likely to rise about 10 percent in 2010 due to falling interest rates, Caglar told Reuters in an interview.

Oyak has a vehicle manufacturing partnership with Renault in Turkey. Rivals include a joint venture between Ford and Koc Holding, Hyundai, Toyota and a Fiat-Koc joint venture.

Turkey introduced tax cuts this year to help the car industry, a pillar of the nation's post-2001 boom. But the country faces a soaring budget deficit and the government will struggle to continue those tax cuts into next year. However, domestic automobile and light commercial vehicle sales have fallen by 3.2 percent in the first eight months of the year, an industry association said on Friday

"The entire sector will fall 20 percent (in 2010) from 2009. I'm talking about production, though sales will be the same. This is not pessimism this is a reality," said Caglar, who said the government had to consider a 'cash-for-clunkers' programme similar to those introduced by governments in Europe and the United States.