Yulon Nissan Motor Co (裕隆日產), which distributes Nissan and Infiniti cars domestically, yesterday said that it expects total car sales next year to increase by 10,000 units from this year to between 415,000 and 420,000 next year on the back of replacement of old cars.
Total car sales reached 560,000 units in 1994 and peaked at 520,000 units in 2004, as many car owners bought new vehicles to replace their old ones, Yulon Nissan chairman Tsay Wen-rong (蔡文榮) said.
“We are used to seeing a peak every 10 years,” Tsay said.
However, although total sales this year are expected to be between 405,000 and 410,000 units, up from 378,456 units last year, the figure will not be as high previous years because local customers now replace their cars every 11.5 to 12 years, up from the earlier figure of 10 years, Tsay said.
Tsay said total car sales next year should be slightly higher than this year as more customers replace their old cars.
Yulon Nissan said it expects sales of its Infiniti cars would rise from 1,000 units this year to 1,300 cars next year.
Tsay said Yulon Nissan would try to improve its sales this month to achieve its target of a 12 percent market share for this year.
From January through last month, the company had a market share of 11.4 percent, distributing 43,577 cars, according to the latest data compiled by the data communication branch of Chunghwa Telecom Co (中華電信).
The figure was up 9.9 percent from a year earlier, data showed.
To reach the target, the firm held a sales contest starting last month, and it launched a special edition of its flagship Sentra sedan yesterday.
The new 1.8 liter Sentra aero sedan, featuring a sports style and large interior space, was designed by Japan-based Nissan Motor Co’s design house Autech Japan Inc, which designed the Infiniti G coupe, and Nissan’s 370Z coupe and 350Z sports cars, Tsay added.
Tsay said the company expects to sell 300 to 400 Sentra aero cars a month from this month to February, and the sales would decline to 200 units a month after February.
The company said it sold 16,000 Sentra sedans from Oct. 24 last year, when the car was launched, through last month.
Tsay said the firm’s operating profit this quarter would be lower than last quarter’s NT$247.36 million (US$7.97 million), as the company conducts promotions to increase sales, while its non-operating profit would be higher than last quarter’s NT$1.49 billion, as sales improved for Dongfeng Nissan Passenger Vehicle Co (東風日產), a subsidiary of the company in China.
From January through last month, Dongfeng Nissan sold 850,000 Nissan cars in China, and the figure should rise to 1 million for the entire year, Tsay said, adding that sales usually rise near the end of a year in China.
Last year, Dongfeng Nissan distributed 920,000 cars, Tsay said, adding that the company’s sales increase of 8.7 percent this year is higher than the 7 percent increase for the entire industry in China.
Last year, Yulon Nissan, the second-largest car distributor in Taiwan, had a market share of 11.6 percent, distributing 44,010 cars, Chunghwa’s data showed.
“The market shares of the five largest car distributors in Taiwan have all shrunk so far this year, while market shares for firms that import cars have risen,” Tsay said.
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