Taikoo Motors Ltd (太古汽車), a distributor of Volkswagen cars in Taiwan, expects sales to decline 26.45 percent this year from last year due to the impact of mass vehicle recalls earlier this year.
The company is forecast to sell 10,000 cars this year, down from 13,456 last year, Taikoo managing director Chili Huang (黃齊力) said at the launch of the new Golf GTI model on Wednesday.
From January through last month, the company distributed 7,434 cars, down 28 percent year-on-year, the latest industrial data showed.
“We encountered some difficulties earlier this year, but we will strive to boost our sales in the coming months,” Huang said.
Taikoo in April announced it would recall 10,535 cars equiped with seven-speed direct-shift gearboxes manufactured between January 2008 and June 2011, citing sudden loss of power.
The company said gearboxes produced after June 2011 are designed with better mechatronics and do not experience the same problem.
The Ministry of Transportation and Communications is still investigating whether Volkswagen cars with six-speed direct-shift gearboxes have the same defects, as the ministry received about 1,100 reports of malfunction from owners of the cars.
Huang said he remained optimistic about the fourth quarter and the company aims to sell 150 units of the new Golf GTI by the end of the year.
The company has since Sept. 18 received 60 preorders for the new subcompact car, priced at NT$1.49 million (US$50,400), he said.
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