Local carmakers and dealers project that Taiwan's new car sales growth will be between 3 and 5 percent next year, with sales expected to come in at 440,000 to 450,000 units.
According to the Taiwan Transportation Vehicle Manufacturers' Association (
Sales projections by local car makers and dealers put this year's total in the 400,000 to 450,000 unit range, compared to last year's 474,069 units which was a 1.56 percent fall on the 1997 total.
Lin Hsin-I (林信義), chairman of the transportation association and vice chairman of new car market leader China Motor Corporation (??華汽車), projects that car sales next year will fall between 430,000 and 440,000 units.
He said the presidential election next March will delay the sales peak which usually arrives around the Chinese Lunar New Year.
He doesn't see that Taiwan's WTO entry "would cause too much of a shock to the local car market as the effects have already been taken into account."
Kenneth Yen (嚴3肸?, vice chairman of Yulon Motor Co Ltd (裕隆汽車), the second largest car manufacturer in Taiwan, also anticipates that car sales next year will see a year-on-year growth of 3 perecnt to 5 percent. He said Yulon will focus on the expansion of markets in Southeast Asia, China and Taiwan in the coming year.
San Yang Motors (
Ford Lio Ho Co (福特?貍M), which has the fourth largest market share, projects that sales next year will grow 3 percent to 5 percent to 438,000 units. Jeffrey Shen (沈-^銓), vice president at the company said the presidential election is expected to affect sales and therefore doesn't expect a pick up until the second quarter.
"We expect that car sales will start posting an average year-on-year increase of 6 percent starting from the second quarter," he said. Moreover, he said next year should be the time to see a rebound, as sales have been shrinking since 1994.
"Sales declined from 580,000 units in 1994, to 470,000 units last year, and will further drop to 420,000 units this year. Next year should be the time for people who purchased in 1994 to change cars," Shen added.
Hotai Motor Co (和泰汽車), Toyota's Taiwan distributor which has the second largest market share in Taiwan, projects that sales next year will increase by 3 percent to 5 percent to 430,000 to 450,000 units from this year's 410,000 to 415,000 units.
Steve Yang (楊?eth>泉), deputy general manager at the company agreed that the presidential election will delay the arrival of the sales peak since elections usually cause sales to drop by 5 percent to 10 percent.
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