Yulon Motor Co (裕隆汽車) yesterday said the nation’s total car sales this year would reach 400,000 units, up 5.69 percent from the 378,456 units sold last year, but it remains cautious about next year’s outlook.
“If the stock market in Taiwan is still bullish next year, we believe activity in the domestic car market should remain high,” Yulon president Yao Chen-hsiang (姚振祥) said in an investors’ conference.
“However, we are a bit concerned that as the domestic housing market starts to cool down, the stock market might be affected,” Yao added.
With year-end elections looming, the government has rolled out a series of hawkish policies so far this year designed to curb housing prices from rising further, leading to falling housing transactions, according to government data.
While the domestic car market has seen a boom this year, partly due to replacement demand which is part of a 10-year cycle, Yao said growth in car sales might slow down in the second half as consumers shift their attention to the upcoming local government-level elections.
From January through last month, total car sales grew 14.5 percent to 279,010 units from the previous year, thanks also to rising sales of imported cars, which accounted for 19.3 percent of the total car market so far this year, up from 17.9 percent recorded a year ago.
Yao said although he expects replacement buying to continue next year, total car sales might not be higher than this year.
As for the company’s own brand Luxgen Motor Co Ltd (納智捷), Yulon plans to sell 16,000 Luxgen cars in Taiwan this year, up from 7,500 last year. The company expects to sell more than 50,000 Luxgens in China, he said.
Yulon now has the capability to launch a new Luxgen car every year, Yao said.
Meanwhile, Yulon Group vice president Charles Shiau (蕭明輝) said the company plans to start the construction of a new business area on its land in Xindian District (新店) between the fourth quarter next year and the first quarter in 2016.
The group plans to acquire the license for the business area to be operational in the first quarter in 2020 and to start the operation of the area in the fourth quarter in 2020, Shiau said.
As for the residential area to be built on the land, Shiau said the construction would begin in the fourth quarter in 2016 and the group aims to acquire the permit to use the area in the first quarter of 2022.
The company plans to start the transfer of ownership of the homes to their customers in the fourth quarter of 2022.
“We hope the finished buildings, with a floor space of 21,000 pings [69,405m2] would become a center for humanities and business, a new landmark for New Taipei City,” Shiau said.
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