New vehicle sales last month jumped 8.3 percent month-on-month to 396,70 units, as auto distributors offered big incentives to spur demand ahead of year-end holidays, market researcher U-Car.com said yesterday.
Last month’s growth was also driven by consumers’ expectations that auto dealers would raise prices next year to reflect surging costs, U-Car said.
On an annual basis, new vehicle sales contracted 1.1 percent as deliveries were affected by a shortage of chips, batteries and other raw materials, it said.
Photo: Amy Yang, Taipei Times
Yulon Nissan Motor Co (裕隆日產), which distributes Nissan and Infiniti vehicles in Taiwan, on Wednesday said it would raise prices by 2 to 4.5 percent.
The prices of domestically made vehicles are to rise by NT$15,000 each, while the prices of imported models are to climb by NT$60,000 from Jan. 1.
Hotai Motor Co (和泰汽車), which distributes Lexus and Toyota models in Taiwan, plans to follow suit, as Japan’s Toyota Motor Corp is under mounting pressure to pass on cost increases amid a supply crunch.
The company led local peers with sales of 12,993 new vehicles last month, up 5.7 percent month-on-month, but down 5.3 percent year-on-year, data showed.
Mercedes-Benz Taiwan Ltd (台灣賓士) ranked second, with sales of 2,436 units, up 4.5 percent monthly and 38.4 percent annually. Honda Taiwan Co (台灣本田) came in third, with sales of 2,293 vehicles, up 2.2 percent monthly, but down 20.5 percent annually.
During the first 11 months of the year, new vehicle sales dropped 5.3 percent from a year earlier to 387,877 units, U-Car.com said.
Hotai expects the growth momentum to extend to this month, with new vehicle sales estimated at 42,000 units, up 2.2 percent month-on-month. The arrival of the Lunar New Year holiday next month should boost replacement demand, it said.
For the full year, new vehicle sales are forecast to slide to 430,000 units from 434,000 units last year, Hotai said.
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