New car sales in Taiwan last year fell 4 percent to the third-highest level on record as auto market consumption returned to normal following a sales boom in 2023, online market researcher U-Car.com said in a report yesterday, citing the latest government data.
The number of applications for vehicle license plates, an indicator of new car sales, slowed to 457,830 units last year, from 476,987 units a year earlier, the second-highest level since 2005, when 514,626 units were requested, the data compiled by the Ministry of Transportation and Communications showed.
The full-year results came as new car sales last month fell 4.3 percent year-on-year to 41,302 units. However, the figure rose 5.4 percent month-on-month, boosted by year-end promotion campaigns by automakers and dealers coupled with new arrivals of imported models, the data showed.
Photo: Amy Yang, Taipei Times
Sales of imported cars last year reached 220,503 units, an annual decrease of 1.8 percent, and a market share of 48.2 percent. The number of luxury imported cars increased 2.9 percent to 115,445 units, a market share of 25.2 percent, the data found.
Market leader Hotai Motor Co (和泰汽車), which distributes Toyota and Lexus vehicles in Taiwan, sold 12,637 units last month, bringing the company’s total sales for last year to 153,526 units, down 3.6 percent from the year before.
That still allowed Hotai to remain the No. 1 vendor in Taiwan for 23 consecutive years with a market share of 33.5 percent, the largest in 11 years, the company said.
In contrast, Yulon Nissan Motor Co (裕隆日產), which distributes Nissan and Infiniti vehicles, Honda Taiwan Co (台灣本田) and China Motor Corp (中華汽車), which makes its namesake brand as well as Mitsubishi and MG-branded vehicles, reported annual declines of 16.7 percent, 11.9 percent and 0.2 percent in sales to 19,842, 26,791 and 51,224 units in the year respectively, the data showed.
However, annual sales at Sanyang Industrial Co (三陽工業), which distributes Hyundai vehicles, rose 2.3 percent to 22,691 units, and Mazda Motor Taiwan’s (台灣馬自達) new car sales increased 7.1 percent to 14,776 units last year, the data showed.
Some popular imported brands, including Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Tesla, also fared better than expected with sales last year rising 7.6 percent, 14.7 percent and 16.1 percent year-on-year to 26,296, 20,332 and 15,276 units, respectively. However, Volvo sales declined 2.4 percent to 9,908 units and Audi delivered 3,945 cars, down 20.1 percent, the data showed.
For this month, total vehicle sales in Taiwan are forecast to reach 42,000 units, down 6.3 percent year-on-year due to fewer working days, despite promotions by automakers and dealers ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday, Hotai said.
Lunar New Year — the most important traditional holiday in Taiwan and also known as the Spring Festival — falls on Jan. 29 this year.
Taiwan’s foreign exchange reserves hit a record high at the end of last month, surpassing the US$600 billion mark for the first time, the central bank said yesterday. Last month, the country’s foreign exchange reserves rose US$5.51 billion from a month earlier to reach US$602.94 billion due to an increase in returns from the central bank’s portfolio management, the movement of other foreign currencies in the portfolio against the US dollar and the bank’s efforts to smooth the volatility of the New Taiwan dollar. Department of Foreign Exchange Director-General Eugene Tsai (蔡炯民)said a rate cut cycle launched by the US Federal Reserve
Handset camera lens maker Largan Precision Co (大立光) on Sunday reported a 6.71 percent year-on-year decline in revenue for the third quarter, despite revenue last month hitting the highest level in 11 months. Third-quarter revenue was NT$17.68 billion (US$581.2 million), compared with NT$18.95 billion a year earlier, the company said in a statement. The figure was in line with Yuanta Securities Investment Consulting Co’s (元大投顧) forecast of NT$17.9 billion, but missed the market consensus estimate of NT$18.97 billion. The third-quarter revenue was a 51.44 percent increase from NT$11.67 billion in the second quarter, as the quarter is usually the peak
Nvidia Corp’s major server production partner Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) reported 10.99 percent year-on-year growth in quarterly sales, signaling healthy demand for artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure. Revenue totaled NT$2.06 trillion (US$67.72 billion) in the last quarter, in line with analysts’ projections, a company statement said. On a quarterly basis, revenue was up 14.47 percent. Hon Hai’s businesses cover four primary product segments: cloud and networking, smart consumer electronics, computing, and components and other products. Last quarter, “cloud and networking products delivered strong growth, components and other products demonstrated significant growth, while smart consumer electronics and computing products slightly declined,” compared with the
The US government on Wednesday sanctioned more than two dozen companies in China, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates, including offshoots of a US chip firm, accusing the businesses of providing illicit support to Iran’s military or proxies. The US Department of Commerce included two subsidiaries of US-based chip distributor Arrow Electronics Inc (艾睿電子) on its so-called entity list published on the federal register for facilitating purchases by Iran’s proxies of US tech. Arrow spokesman John Hourigan said that the subsidiaries have been operating in full compliance with US export control regulations and his company is discussing with the US Bureau of
RSS