New car sales in Taiwan rose 8.9 percent to 38,657 units last month from 35,483 units a year earlier, as aggressive sales promotions ahead of Ghost Month offset the effects of geopolitical tensions and volatile crude oil prices, market researcher U-Car said in a report released yesterday.
Compared with June, sales dipped 6.54 percent from 41,361 units — this year’s peak — as Typhoon Bavi affected showroom visits, it said.
During the first seven months of this year, new car sales rose 2.9 percent to 240,935 units from the same period last year, U-Car’s data showed.
Photo: Tsai Shu-yuan, Taipei Times
This month, sales are expected to fall 5 percent year-on-year to 28,000 units due to the effect of Ghost Month, said Hotai Motor Co (和泰汽車), a distributor of Toyota, Lexus and Hino cars in Taiwan.
Hotai had a 38.4 percent market share during the January-to-July period.
During Ghost Month — which falls on the seventh month of the lunar calendar and starts on Thursday next week this year — many people tend not to buy big-ticket items to avoid bad luck.
However, full-year sales this year are predicted to increase 8.6 percent to 440,000 units, Hotai said, citing government tax incentives, including a deduction of up to NT$100,000 in commodity tax per car when retiring old vehicles.
Yulon Nissan Motor Co (裕日車) said growth is expected to accelerate in the second half of this year, boosted by robust demand for electric vehicles and luxury models, and predicted full-year sales to rise 3.7 percent to 420,000 units.
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