The nation’s new car sales rose 1.1 percent last year from a year earlier, thanks to aggressive promotional campaigns by dealers last month, a report released on Thursday by online market researcher U-Car said.
The government’s tax break program that encourages owners to trade in old vehicles for new ones also helped boost car sales last year, the report said.
Car sales totaled 439,836 units, up from 435,135 in 2018, although sales of imported cars increased by an annual 6.42 percent to 209,949 units, making up 47.7 percent of the total, U-Car said, citing Directorate-General of Highways data.
Last month alone, car sales rose 12.8 percent from a month earlier and 9.4 percent from a year earlier to 45,925 units on the back of strong sales of best-sellers, such as the new Toyota Corolla Altis sedan and new sport utility vehicle models including the Toyota RAV4, Honda CR-V and Nissan Kicks, the report showed.
Hotai Motor Co (和泰汽車), the local sales agent for Toyota and Lexus vehicles, remained the top vehicle vendor last year with a 27.2 percent market share, the report said.
Hotai sold 119,597 units, a 25.2 percent increase from 2018.
China Motor Corp (中華汽車), which markets vehicles under the Mitsubishi brand and its own CMC brand, was second, selling 47,853 units, down 5.5 percent annually and accounting for 10.9 percent of total sales in Taiwan.
Third was Yulon Nissan Motor Co (裕隆日產), which sells vehicles under the Nissan brand. It sold 35,793 cars, up 4.1 percent annually and accounting for 8.1 percent of total sales.
Honda Taiwan Co (台灣本田) was fourth with a 7.5 percent market share and sales of 33,053 units, down 14.9 percent from a year earlier.
Mercedes-Benz Taiwan Ltd (台灣賓士) came fifth, booking a 0.3 percent annual increase in sales to 29,255 units and a 6.7 percent market share.
Throughout last year, competition in the luxury vehicle segment was close, as 22,295 Lexus vehicles and 16,907 BMW vehicles were sold in Taiwan, up 25.2 percent and 3.8 percent respectively from 2018, U-Car said.
Dealers might continue to see strong sales in this final year of the government’s trade-in program, which could stimulate another wave of replacement demand if the government does not extend the program, the report said.
Beginning in January 2016, the government offered NT$50,000 per car to owners who traded in vehicles six years or older for a newer, more efficient model.
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