Hotai Motor Co (和泰車), which distributes Toyota and Lexus vehicles in Taiwan, aims to increase sales of Lexus cars by 15 percent next year from this year, eyeing high sales for its Lexus NX SUV.
The company has set a target of distributing 15,000 Lexus cars next year, up from 13,200 this year, it said.
“Hotai has already received orders for 1,900 units of the NX SUV and the number will rise to 2,200 to 2,300 units by the end of the year,” company president Justin Su (蘇純興) said on Friday.
The company also plans to distribute at least 1,350 units of the NX hybrid SUV by the end of this year, higher than the 1,200 units it previously forecast.
Hotai sold 11,700 Lexus cars from January through to Thursday last week, up 27.1 percent from the previous year, according to the latest industrial data compiled by Chunghwa Telecom Co’s (中華電信) data communication branch.
As a result, Hotai’s market share in the premium car segment rose to 21 percent during the period, from 19.9 percent the previous year, the data showed.
Trailing Mercedes-Benz Taiwan and Pan German Motors Ltd (汎德), which sells BMW cars, Hotai maintained its position as the third largest premium car distributor in the nation from January through to Thursday last week.
The company on Friday launched the Lexus RC 350 F Sport coupe, priced at NT$3 million (US$97,101), and the Lexus RC F sedan, with a price tag of between NT$3.6 million and NT$4.5 million, at an event in Taipei.
Hotai now expects to sell 200 Lexus RC 350 cars and 50 Lexus RC F cars in the next year, up from the forecast of 100 and 20 cars respectively.
However, the company has no plan to lower the prices of its cars because of the Japanese yen’s recent depreciation.
“We did not take into consideration the exchange rate when we set our prices in the first place. Our prices are determined based on the market and the market share we want to acquire,” Su said.
Hotai shares increased 8.85 percent last week to close at NT$492 in Taipei trading on Friday, after it reported a record profit of NT$7.17 billion, or NT$13.12 per share, for the past three quarters.
The figure was up 25.13 percent from NT$5.73 billion, or NT$10.49 per share, from a year ago, according to the company’s filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange.
Waterland Securities (國票證券) said in its report issued on Nov. 13 that Hotai’s profit last quarter beat estimates because of the rising proportion of imported car sales with a higher gross margin, including Lexus cars, Toyota’s Prius mid-size hatchback and RAV4 SUV.
Hotai’s gross margin rose to 13.67 percent last quarter, up from 13.49 percent the previous year and 12.26 percent a quarter ago, filing said.
However, Hotai did not benefit from yen depreciation because its imported cars are traded in US dollars and its locally manufactured cars in New Taiwan dollars, Waterland analyst Chen I-ling (陳以玲) said in the report.
Chen forecast that Hotai will post a profit of NT$2.21 billion, or NT$4.04 per share, this quarter by distributing 35,000 Toyota and Lexus brand vehicles. However, its gross margin will drop to 12.01 percent because of more promotional activities in the industry, she said.
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