New car sales in Taiwan last month rose 13.5 percent month-on-month to 40,103 units on launches of new models, online market researcher U-Car said yesterday in a report.
However, the figure represents an annual decline of 6.2 percent due to a higher comparison base last year, U-Car said.
Hotai Motor Co (和泰汽車), which distributes Toyota and Lexus cars, maintained its position as the nation’s top seller with 11,864 cars, down 9.9 percent annually, to hold a 29.6 percent market share, the report said.
China Motor Corp (CMC, 中華汽車), which sells Mitsubishi sedans and its own-brand CMC models, saw sales rise 9.7 percent annually to 4,866 units, the report said.
Yulon Nissan Motor Co (裕隆日產), which distributes Nissan and Infiniti cars, sold 3,666 vehicles, down 2.6 percent from a year earlier, it said.
Mercedes-Benz Taiwan, the nation’s largest luxury car distributor, saw its sales fall 1.1 percent annually to 2, 584 units, while Honda Taiwan Co (台灣本田) sold 2,467 units, up 6.8 percent from a year earlier, the report said.
During the January-to-June period, new car sales totaled 217,162 units, down 2.3 percent the same period last year, the report said.
“Automobile sales are forecast to reach 420,000 units this year, if the figure does not improve significantly in the coming months,” Yulon Nissan president Leman Lee (李振成) said last month at his firm’s shareholders’ meeting.
Car dealers generally hold a conservative outlook for this year, saying that the effect of the government’s five-year subsidy program might diminish.
The subsidy provides NT$50,000 to people who scrap or export their used cars and buy a new car within six months.
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