Domestic car sales last month dropped 1.9 percent to 30,617 units from a year ago because customers were waiting for prices to go down, the latest industrial data showed.
Car sales last month rose 6.1 percent from a month ago, according to statistics compiled by Chunghwa Telecom Co’s (中華電信) data communication branch.
From January through last month, total car sales declined 3.8 percent to 149,748 units from the previous year, the data showed.
Hotai Motor Co (和泰汽車), which distributes Toyota and Lexus models, continued to lead the market with 10,497 units sold for a 34.3 percent share of the market.
Hotai’s sales slid 1.9 percent annually, but grew 6.1 percent on a monthly basis, the data showed.
“Customers were hoping the government would offer subsidies to replace their old cars and car prices would drop to reflect the depreciation of the Japanese yen,” Hotai deputy spokesman Yu Shiao-chung (喻曉忠) said by telephone of the year-on-year decline.
As for the month-on-month increase, Yu said it was in line with the seasonal pattern of car sales, which usually drops after the Lunar New Year and gradually picks up in May.
“Many people often need to travel by car in the summer and many will likely buy cars after graduating this month or when they find jobs,” he said.
China Motor Corp (中華汽車), the local manufacturer of Mitsubishi cars, sold 3,605 vehicles last month, accounting for 11.8 percent of the market, the data showed.
China Motor’s sales were down 15.2 percent from a year ago, but up 3.4 percent from a month ago, the company said.
A China Motor official who declined to be named said that earlier last month, customers had been holding out on purchasing a car until the government offered subsidies, adding that demand had started to rebound after the government made it clear that there would be subsidies for taxis.
The official said car sales was likely to return to normal later this year and total annual sales would be about the same as last year.
Nissan and Infiniti car distributor Yulon Nissan Motor Co (裕隆日產) sold 3,334 cars last month for a market share of 10.9 percent, the figures showed.
Yulon Nissan’s sales last month were 13.7 percent higher than the previous year and 1.4 percent higher than a month ago.
Meanwhile, luxury car sales reached 4,522 units last month, up 13.7 percent from a year ago and 12.3 percent from a month ago, the data showed.
From January through last month, luxury car sales rose 9.2 percent from the previous year to 20,585 cars, the figures showed.
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