New vehicle sales last month increased on the back of the government’s subsidy policy and dealers’ promotion campaigns, but the local economy is still struggling.
Sales increased by a stronger-than-expected 3.6 percent year-on-year and 12.9 percent month-on-month to 42,751 units last month, data compiled by local motor vehicle offices showed on Friday.
The increase in car sales last month might also be cause by consumers’ expectations of potential price hikes, local media cited Hotai Motor Co (和泰汽車) officials as saying.
People expect car prices to soar, so they have decided to buy now, Taiwan’s leading car dealer Hotai said.
Hotai, which distributes Toyota and Lexus models, continued to dominate the local market, selling 14,409 cars last month with a market share of 33.7 percent, the data showed.
China Motor Corp (CMC, 中華汽車), which distributes Mitsubishi sedans and its own CMC commercial vehicles, saw sales drop 2.1 percent from May to 4,434 units last month, while sales at Yulon Nissan Motor Co (裕隆日產), which sells Nissan and Infiniti models, saw monthly sales rise by 3.6 percent last month to 4,167 vehicles.
Both China Motor and Yulon Nissan kept their second and third-place rankings, with market shares of 10.3 percent and 9.7 percent respectively.
Mercedes-Benz Taiwan, the largest luxury car distributor in the nation, also weighed in with a 29.7 percent monthly increase in sales last month to 2,612 cars, which enabled the European luxury brand to climb to fourth place, owing to steady sales in its E-class vehicles, with a 6.1 percent market share.
Car dealers are generally optimistic about sales this month, as consumers tend avoid buying big-ticket items, including cars, during Ghost Month, which this year is to run from Aug. 3 to Aug. 31.
Hotai forecast that at least 48,000 units would be sold this month, local media reported.
As for annual car sales, Hotai said sales could reach 420,000 units with help from the government’s subsidy policy that began in January.
In the first six months of the year, total new cars sales reached 222,209 units, up 2.3 percent from the same period last year, data showed.
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