Yulon Nissan Motor Co (裕隆日產), which distributes Nissan and Infiniti vehicles in Taiwan, on Thursday said it is to launch three car models next year to stimulate sales in the domestic market.
The company plans to introduce Nissan Kicks compact crossovers in the second half of next year, Yulon Nissan president Leman Lee (李振成) told an investors’ conference in Taipei.
Eyeing increasing demand for small sports utility vehicles, the company is also to launch Infiniti QX30 and QX50 cars for Taiwanese customers next year, Lee said.
Supported by new model launches, the nation’s second-largest car distributor has set a sales target of 41,000 Nissan cars for next year, compared with this year’s nearly 40,000 sales.
Sales of Infiniti cars are expected to reach 2,600 units, up from this year’s 2,400 units, Yulon Nissan said.
However, Lee gave a relatively conservative outlook for next year’s new car sales, as the effect of a five-year subsidy program might start to diminish.
Yulon Nissan expects car sales nationwide to reach about 420,000 units next year, he said, adding that uncertainties brought by upcoming election campaigns might also affect buying interest.
The estimate was lower than its local peer Hotai Motor Co’s (和泰汽車) estimate of 430,000 to 440,000 units.
The company forecasts car sales will remain at the same level as this year and last year, Hotai president Justin Su (蘇純興) told reporters earlier this month, citing optimistic sentiment in the local stock market.
From January through last month, the nation’s new car sales totaled 362,016 units, edging up 0.7 percent from the first 10 months of last year, according to data compiled by local motor vehicle departments.
Last year, national new car sales rose 4.5 percent on an annual basis to an 11-year high of 439,629 units.
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