Hotai Motor Co (和泰汽車), which distributes Toyota and Lexus vehicles in Taiwan, has raised prices for five imported models by 2 to 3.4 percent to reflect rising costs amid a global chip shortage and high raw material prices.
The company yesterday said it has hiked the prices of new Camry, Sienna, GR Yaris, Land Cruiser Prado and GR Supra models by NT$14,000 to NT$60,000 (US$503 to US$2,154).
The models are made by Toyota Motor Corp at overseas factories.
Photo: Amy Yang, Taipei Times
The new GR Yaris subcompact hatchback, Prado sport utility vehicle and Supra sport compact saw the biggest price jumps of NT$60,000 each to at least NT$1.85 million, NT$2.46 million and NT$2.06 million respectively, Hotai said.
The company has resumed accepting orders for the models after a pause last week, but said buyers would have to wait until next year for delivery due to production disruptions at factories.
Hotai said it has a backlog of up to 2,200 vehicles.
Price hikes might spread to other models and brands that are made in Taiwan as automakers and distributors face mounting cost pressures.
“We are still in talks with the Japanese automaker to adjust prices for locally made vehicles. The decision will be made by the end of the year,” Hotai spokesman Simon Liu (劉松山) yesterday told Unique Satellite TV’s business news channel.
The chip shortage has hit sales of new vehicles in Taiwan, with the latest industry data released on Monday showing that sales last month fell 14.2 percent to 35,297 units from 41,133 units in September.
Last month’s figure fell short of Hotai’s expectation of 40,000 units, as it had expected market sentiment to gain support from a government-backed stimulus voucher program and new model launches.
Sales of imported vehicles dipped at a deeper rate of 23.7 percent month-on-month to 13,288 units last month, led by Mercedes-Benz Taiwan Ltd’s (台灣賓士) more than 30 percent decline to 1,891 units, the data showed.
“Pandemic control measures and chip shortages dealt a double blow to the sales of imported cars last month,” market researcher U-Car.com said in a report on Monday.
In the first 10 months of this year, new vehicle sales rose 1.1 percent year-on-year to 369,400 units, the data showed.
U-Car said it would be a challenge for automakers to boost vehicle sales this year above last year’s 457,435 units.
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