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Mercedes-Benz projects 18% sales drop

Auto sales in Taiwan for German luxury car maker Mercedes-Benz are projected to go down by 18 percent this year from a year earlier, better than a projected 45 percent decline for the overall auto market here, a company official said yesterday

“The luxury car market segment is shrinking this year, but less than the general market,” Wolfram Geisler, president and chief executive officer of Mercedes-Benz Taiwan Ltd (台灣賓士), told reporters yesterday.

By the end of last month, only 121,000 domestic and imported passenger cars had been sold on the Taiwan auto market so far this year. Geisler said he expected the Taiwan market to consume at most 180,000 new vehicles this year, which he said was “the lowest ever” compared with 275,000 units sold last year, and 463,000 units in 2005.

In the first nine months of the year, 35,000 imported cars were sold in Taiwan, down 30 percent from a year earlier, while the luxury car segment slipped 27 percent to 27,000 units.

“It shows no sign of recovery yet at this moment,” Geisler said, adding that he didn’t think anything positive will happen this year.

Aside from high oil prices that have forced people to refrain from buying cars, other factors such as the recent US banking crisis will also affect auto sales, which he said “are not in Taiwan’s control anymore.”

Geisler made the remark as Mercedes-Benz launched its updated B-Class edition and the C-Class Estate five-door station wagon in Taipei yesterday, with prices starting from NT$1.65 million (US$508,000) and NT$2.09 million respectively.

The company introduced two models of C-Class Estate, C200 Kompressor Estate and C280 Estate, with a limited offering of 20 units each.

Geisler said 24 orders had been received, and he expected the C-Class Estate to be more popular next year for buyers who desire spaciousness with less fuel consumption.
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