Taiwan sales fall 3% in April

Taiwan’s new vehicle market fell 3% year on year to 37,038 units in April 2024 from 38,231 units a year earlier, according to registration data compiled by Taiwan’s Ministry of Transportation.

After a strong start to the year, the market saw declines in each of the last three months resulting in a slight fall in cumulative four month sales to 149,437 units from 149,999 in the same period of last year. The vehicle market this year has come up against strong year earlier volume while imports from Europe have also been affected by geo-political tensions in the Red Sea.

The Taiwanese economy remained strong with GDP growth accelerating to 6.5% year on year in the first quarter of 2024 after growing by 4.9% in the fourth quarter of 2023, driven by surging exports and still strong domestic consumption. The central bank increased its benchmark interest rate to 2.0% in March from 1.75% to combat rising inflation.

Sales of imported vehicles were down 1% at 68,762 units in the first four months of 2024 while domestic sales were slightly higher at 80,675 units. Sales of battery electric vehicles (BEV) amounted to 7,325 units, led by domestic brand Luxgen, Tesla and BMW.

Total sales of Toyota brand vehicles fell 4% to 40,242 units year to date while Lexus sales were 8% lower at 10,026 units. Honda sales increased 5% to 9,286 units followed by Mercedes-Benz with 8,958 units (+3%), Hyundai 8,404 (+17%) MG 8,344 units (+193%), China Motor 7,172 (+8), Nissan 6,975 (-7%), BMW 5,429 (-5%), Mitsubishi 4,991 (-4%) and Ford 4,874 (-38%);

Earlier this year Hotai Motor, the local distributor of Toyota, Lexus and Hino vehicles, said it aimed to sell a record 170,000 vehicles this year helped by the introduction of new models including the revamped Toyota Camry sedan and the new Lexus UX 300h.