Hotai Motor Co Ltd (和泰汽車), which distributes Toyota and Lexus vehicles in Taiwan, has turned cautious about new vehicle sales this year amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
With an increasing number of furloughed employees and store closures triggered by the pandemic, Hotai said it is betting on government tax incentives that aim to encourage the replacement of older vehicles to help drive the market this year.
“The pandemic is unpredictable... If consumers scramble to buy new cars at the end of the year [when the tax break is to end] as expected, the negative impact should be offset,” Hotai spokesman Simon Liu (劉松山) said at an investors’ conference in Taipei.
“We are evaluating the market situation and will disclose our assessment if there are any adjustments to our forecast. At the moment, we maintain the [projection of] 450,000 vehicle sales in Taiwan,” Liu said.
The company in January forecast that new vehicle sales would rise to 450,000 this year, up from 439,000 last year.
The pandemic would not disrupt the imports of new RAV 4 sports utility vehicles and Lexus vehicles as Toyota Motor Corp has agreed to reallocate its quotas for other regions to the Taiwanese market, Liu said.
“Lexus sales are still growing in Taiwan,” he said.
Hotai still aims to sell 146,000 new vehicles this year, up 3.55 percent from 141,000 last year, he said, adding that last month it received 1,000 orders for the Lexus LM300h, exceeding a 700-vehicle quota.
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