New-Car Sales in Taiwan up 3.7% Yoy in July

After hitting a 10-year same-month record in June, new-car sales in Taiwan continued on an uptrend in July, especially in the last 10 days of the month, to 46,800 units, up 13.5 percent from the previous month, or month-on-month (MoM), also a 3.7 percent increase from a year earlier, or year-on-year (YoY), according to statistics compiled by the Ministry of Transportation and Communications (MOTC).

Industry sources says that in the last 10 days of July, about 30,000 new cars were licensed to drive the monthly volume to an impressive level, which was better-than-expected because both the domestic housing and stock markets are struggling amid unfavorable business climate. The higher-than-expected July new-car sales were also in line with original forecasts by industry experts and auto vendors, while the overall monthly volume might further increase to some 47,000 units in July, driven mainly by sales competitions among auto distributors and shipment arrivals of imported cars.

Many experts and vendors also forecast that the robust demand is expected throughout at least September, when consumers often put off major purchase decisions due to the Chinese Ghost Month (Aug. 14-Sept. 12, 2015), when traditionally it is taboo to engage in normally celebratory, propitious activities as weddings.

In the first seven months, accumulated new-car sales in Taiwan totaled 264,004 units, up 3.2 percent YoY. Many industry sources are optimistic toward the 2015 overall car market to outstrip about 430,000 units, the nine-year high achieved in 2014.

Thanks to hot sales of its imported Mazda 3 compact sedans (1,335 units were sold), Mazda Taiwan, the wholly-owned local subsidiary of Mazda Japan, sold 2,660 new cars in July, a record monthly high for the vendor and a 54 percent YoY increase, which raised Mazda Taiwan's ranking to No. 4 last month.  

Sales of sport utility vehicles (SUVs) in Taiwan have been rising sharply as fuel prices fall, and the segment continued to expand in July to account for about one-fourth of the overall market with 10,000-plus units sold. Hotai Motor Co. Ltd., agent of Toyota and Lexus in Taiwan and one the biggest beneficiaries in the expanding segment, sold 2,752 units of the Toyota RAV4 SUV in the month, or about 5,000 in June and July, both were record highs for a single SUV model in Taiwan.  

Meanwhile, the best-selling locally-assembled SUV model, the new Nissan X-Trail, yielded its lead to Honda CR-V by lagging only 10 units sold, with the X-Trail being the No. 1 seller of its kind in May and June. Thanks to smooth sales of other models such as Nissan Livina, Tiida and Sentra, etc., Yulon Nissan Motor Co., local agent of Nissan and Infiniti, sold more than 5,300 new cars in July and wrestled back its No. 2 ranking with an 11.4 percent market share.

Hotai, unsurprisingly, retained the No.1 auto vendor position in July by selling 17,306 (13,906 units sold in June) new cars (including 5,449 locally assembled Toyota Altis compact sedans (4,100 units sold in June) and 1,528 imported Lexus (1,132 units sold in June), up 24.4 percent MoM and 3.4 percent YoY. The company won a 37 percent share (33.7 percent in June) in the domestic market, the highest monthly figure in the first seven months.

Thanks to the ample supply of its hot-selling, locally-assembled Luxgen U6 Eco Hyper crossover, Luxgen Motor Co., Ltd., agent of domestic Yulon Group's own Luxgen line, sold 2.5 percent more new cars from the previous July, the company's first month of positive-grow this year.