New car sales last month rose 3.9 percent from the previous month to 35,348 units, 6.7 percent lower than a year earlier, data compiled by local motor vehicle branches showed.
The change was due to a lower comparison base in April, the companies said.
Hotai Motor Co (和泰汽車), which sells Toyota and Lexus models, remained the nation’s largest car supplier with a 29.3 percent market share and sales of 10,373 units, a 12.1 percent decrease from a year earlier.
China Motor Corp (中華汽車), which supplies Mitsubishi sedans and its own-brand CMC commercial models, posted an annual sales decrease of 15.3 percent to 3,831 units last month.
Yulon Nissan Motor Co (裕隆日產), which sells Nissan and Infiniti vehicles, saw its sales drop 15.6 percent year-on-year to 3,393 units, statistics showed.
China Motor and Yulon Nissan last month secured market shares of 10.8 percent and 9.6 percent respectively.
Bucking the downward trend, Honda Taiwan Co (台灣本田) posted sales of 2,573 units, a 10.1 percent increase from a year earlier, with a 7.3 percent market share.
Mercedes-Benz Taiwan, the fifth-biggest car distributor with a 6.5 percent market share, saw its sales increase 14.8 percent for the month to 2,310 units from a year earlier.
Local car dealers generally gave positive sales outlooks for the coming quarters, saying that market sentiment is likely to improve due to large-scale promotions to stimulate demand in the summer.
From January through last month, new car sales totaled 177,059 units, representing a 1.3 percent decrease from the same period last year, data showed.
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