The nation’s car market last month felt the impact of Ghost Month, a time when many consumers tend not to buy big-ticket items to avoid bad luck, with sales falling more than 10 percent month-on-month, according to data compiled by local motor vehicle branches.
However, imported cars made a strong showing, with their market share accounting for almost 50 percent, largely due to effective pricing strategies, market analysts said.
Vehicle sales totaled 31,375 units, down almost 15 percent from August and down 6.2 percent from a year earlier.
Ghost Month began on Aug. 22 and ran through Sept. 19.
Hotai Motor Co (和泰汽車), the agent for Japan’s Toyota Motor Corp, retained the title of the biggest car supplier in the nation, with a 23.2 percent market share and sales of 7,269 cars.
China Motor Corp (CMC, 中華汽車) came in second, selling 3,247 cars to take a 10.3 percent share.
Honda Taiwan Co (台灣本田), wholly owned by Japan’s Honda Motor Co, had a 9.4 percent share and sales of 2,944 cars.
In fourth place was Mercedes-Benz, which sold 2,555 cars to take an 8.1 percent share, while Yulon Nissan Motor Co (裕隆日產) sold 2,345 cars to rank as fifth, with a 7.5 percent share.
Imports accounted for 47.8 percent of the total cars sold nationwide last month.
In the first nine months of this year, car sales nationwide totaled 326,500 units, the data showed.
Imports made up about 41 percent with 133,200 vehicles sold, the data showed.
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