New vehicle sales in Taiwan last month dipped 11.7 percent year-on-year to 24,278 units, but still beat market expectations, as falling COVID-19 infections offset the effects of a global chip crunch and port congestion, Motor Vehicles Office data showed.
The figure represented a 40.2 percent decline from January due to seasonal factors and fewer working days.
Hotai Motor Co (和泰汽車), which distributes Toyota and Lexus vehicles in Taiwan, had expected new vehicle sales in Taiwan to reach 21,000 units last month.
Photo: Hsu Kuo-chen, Taipei Times
“The improvement of COVID-19 infections in Taiwan helped lift vehicle sales in February, indicating that domestic demand remains robust,” Hotai spokesman Simon Liu (劉松山) said by telephone.
Some automakers received more new vehicles from overseas plants, after shipments had been delayed due to production halts caused by key component shortages and COVID-19-related curbs, Liu said.
Hotai expects vehicle deliveries from Toyota Motor Corp to remain normal as the Japanese automaker is to restart production after a brief halt due to a cyberattack on a components supplier.
With the pandemic stabilizing, Hotai expects new vehicle sales in Taiwan to jump 44 percent monthly to 35,000 units this month, Liu said.
However, the forecast still represents an annual slump of 19 percent, due to chip supply constraints and worldwide port congestion.
“Automakers still have order backlogs to clear,” Liu said.
Last month, Hotai sold 9,808 units of Toyota and Lexus vehicles, surging 27.7 percent year-on-year, but sinking about 30 percent month-on-month, a slower pace than its peers.
That was supported by deliveries of the new Lexus NX series, which boosted total sales of Lexus vehicles by 2.9 percent month-on-month to 1,813 units against the market downtrend. The Lexus NX was the third-best-selling vehicle last month.
Hotai retained its position as Taiwan’s top auto vendor, with a 40.4 percent share of the market, the highest in about nine years.
Honda Taiwan Co (台灣本田) came in second, with sales falling about 5 percent annually and 44 percent monthly to 1,688 vehicles last month. Honda has a 7.5 percent market share.
China Motor Corp (CMC, 中華汽車) followed with sales edging up 0.2 percent year-on-year, but falling 40 percent month-on-month to 1,398 units. That gave CMC a 7 percent share of the market.
Mercedes-Benz Taiwan Ltd (台灣賓士) saw its ranking slide to fourth from second, with sales plunging 42.3 percent year-on-year and 59 percent month-on-month to 1,341 units, accounting for 5.5 percent of the market.
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