Local sales of commercial vehicles weighing about 3.5 tonnes are expected to shrink 30 percent to 7,000 units this year, as manufacturers upgraded their cars to meet the Euro 5 emission standards and prices rose about NT$200,000 (US$6,800) per unit, China Motor Corp (CMC, 中華汽車) said yesterday.
“After the upgrade, most 3.5-tonne commercial vehicles are priced above NT$1 million each, which makes them difficult to sell,” CMC president Liu Hsin-tai (劉興臺) said, adding that prospective customers are tending to either buy smaller vehicles or choose not to replace what they have.
MARKET LEADER
CMC, which distributes Mitsubishi sedans and its own CMC-branded commercial vehicles, accounted for 48 percent to 50 percent of the domestic market for 3.5-tonne commercial vehicles during the first nine months of the year.
Hotai Motor Co’s (和泰汽車) Hino vehicles accounted for 30 percent of the market, and Global Motors Co (嘉寶樂汽車), which distributes Kia and Isuzu cars in Taiwan, accounted for the remaining 20 percent, Liu said.
CMC yesterday launched its new 3.5-tonne Leadca commercial vehicles, priced at NT$896,000 each.
LEADCA
The company expects to distribute 1,000 Leadca vehicles this year and between 3,000 and 3,500 next year. It hopes to increase its sales of 3.5-tonne commercial vehicles to 5,000 units this year, with a market share of 70 percent, according to Liu.
Liu said the company hopes to sell 22,000 to 23,000 commercial vehicles this year and 25,000 units next year.
Overall, local sales of commercial vehicles are expected to reach 36,000 to 37,000 units this year, he added.
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