Hotai Motor Co (和泰汽車) yesterday reported that vehicle sales for last month climbed 25.2 percent year-on-year to a four-year high of 17,193 units, allowing it to retain the top spot in the domestic market with a 35.5 percent share.
The figure included 14,317 Toyota-branded vehicles, up 19.9 percent annually, and 2,876 Lexus cars, a surge of 60.2 percent, Hotai said in a statement.
Robust growth in Lexus sales has made it the nation’s top luxury car brand in seven-and-a-half years, Hotai said, citing data compiled by the Directorate-General of Highways’ (DGH) motor vehicles offices.
Overall sales also got a lift from sales of more than 4,000 revamped Altis sedans as well as record sales of 3,082 RAV-4 sport utility vehicles (SUVs), the highest since 1997.
“We expect Altis and RAV-4 to continue to sell well later this year as promotional activities continue,” the official told the Taipei Times by telephone.
DGH data showed that a total of 48,429 vehicles — including 8,573 high-end models — were sold last month, the highest since 2006, the company said.
China Motor Corp (中華汽車), which distributes Mitsubishi Motors Corp vehicles and CMC-brand commercial vehicles, came in second with sales of 5,394 units and an 11.1 percent share of the market.
Honda Taiwan Co (台灣本田) ranked third with sales of 4,030 vehicles and a market share of 8.3 percent, the data showed.
In the luxury car segment, Lexus topped its peers, driven by rising demand for its SUV models ranging from the NX, UX to RX-series, as well as ES-series sedans, the official said.
Mercedes-Benz Taiwan Ltd (台灣賓士) came in second with sales of 2,464 units last month, followed by Pan German Universal Motors Ltd’s (汎德永業) 1,651 BMWs, DGH data showed.
In the first seven months of the year, total vehicle sales reached 255,351 units, down 3.7 percent from the same period last year, data showed.
Hotai sold 70,142 vehicles in the period, up 7.4 percent year-on-year, with a 27.5 percent market share.
In the first seven months, Lexus sales climbed 18.9 percent to 12,775 units to secure a 25.5 percent share of the high-end market, data showed.
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