New car sales declined 11.6 percent last month from the previous month to 36,575 units due to a higher comparison base in July, data compiled by local motor vehicle branches showed.
However, last month’s figure also represented a 59.9 percent surge from 34,953 units a year earlier, as Ghost Month started earlier in August last year, which affected buying during the period.
Local car distributors generally provided cautious sales outlooks for this month, as Taiwanese often avoid buying vehicles during Ghost Month, which started on Aug. 22 and ends on Sept. 19 this year.
Hotai Motor Co (和泰汽車), which distributes Toyota and Lexus cars, last month maintained its position as the nation’s top seller with a 32.5 percent market share, selling 11,875 units. However, the figure was 3.65 percent lower than a month earlier.
China Motor Corp (中華汽車), which sells Mitsubishi sedans and its own-brand CMC commercial vehicles, reported sales of 4,055 units last month, a 15.3 percent decrease on a monthly basis.
China Motor held the second-largest market share last month, with 11.1 percent.
Yulon Nissan Motor Co (裕隆日產), which sells Nissan and Infiniti vehicles, saw its sales fall 30.7 percent month-on-month to 3,043 units, for an 8.3 percent market share.
Honda Taiwan Co (台灣本田), the fourth-biggest car supplier, sold 2,585 cars last month, taking a 7.1 percent market share, followed by Mercedes-Benz Taiwan, which distributed 2,204 units.
From January through last month, total new car sales reached 295,129 units, up 1.7 percent from the same period last year, the data showed.
Hotai forecast 430,000 new cars would be sold in Taiwan this year, compared with last year’s 439,629 units, saying that the effect of a government stimulus program might diminish this year.
Yulon Nissan also provided a conservative estimate of 420,000 units for the whole of this year.
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