The nation's automakers are preparing for disappointing new-auto sales this year despite aggressive promotional campaigns by dealers to stimulate domestic demand.
Hotai Motor Co (和泰汽車), which sells Toyota vehicles in Taiwan, yesterday revised its forecast for annual sales this year downward to between 365,000 and 370,000 vehicles from a previous forecast of 380,000, citing slow economic growth.
Incentives including no-interest dealer financing can only have a limited effect in the face of a weak economy, Chen said.
At the company's annual shareholders meeting held in Taipei County's Hsinchuan, Hotai president Chen Shuen-der (陳順德) said the impact of SARS on domestic tourism negatively impacted auto demand this year, especially transport vechicles like tour buses.
The government in mid-May adjusted downward the nation's projected economic growth to 2.89 percent this year from previous 3.68 percent forecast because of SARS.
Hotai sold 161,033 cars in the first five months, up 4.5 percent from the previous year, following its new model introduction, the Toyota Vios, in late March.
The company's annual sales target in 2003 will also be lowered to 93,000 vehicles from 95,000, said Chen, adding that Toyota autos aims to lead the market by accounting for 22.6 percent of market share this year.
The company is far from being the first auto company to push down its annual sales target due to the disease.
Other automakers such as China Motor Co (
China Motor,which produces Mitsubishi autos here, sold 36,263 cars in the first five months of this year, down 6.37 percent year-on-year.
The company said it would maintain its annual sales goal at 80,000 cars for the year because of new model introductions.
"With the addition of the new Mitsubishi Lancer, we sold 9,363 autos last month, an increase of 15.89 percent from a year ago," Hsu said.
Ford Motor Co, on the other hand, predicts its annual new auto sales in Taiwan to increase by 5 percent to 67,000 vehicles this year, said York Chen (陳遠清), vice president of marketing and sales of Ford Lio Ho Motor Co (福特六和).
"Sentiment is getting stronger at showrooms these days," Chen said. "And we predict the total vehicle sales this year to be between 370,000 and 380,000 cars."
Yulon Motor Co's (裕隆汽車) marketing manager Chen Chun (陳俊) said the nation's third largest automaker will remain vigilant as the disease may resurface again sometime in fall or winter.
But the mid-sized and large-sized sedan segments were most affected by the SARS outbreak last month, with sales dropping by 10 percent and 40 percent respectively, according to Hotai spokesman Steven Yang (
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