Taiwan's new vehicle market declined by just over 3% to 39,792 units in October 2020 from strong year earlier sales of 41,040, according to local reports citing registration data compiled by Taiwan's Directorate of Highways.
The market has performed relatively well this year given the sharp declines seen elsewhere in Asia due to the COVID-19 pandemic, helped by very few reported infections. Sales in the first 10 months of the year increased by 3.5% to 365,598 units from 353,207 a year ago, with sales of imported vehicles rising by over 10% to 183,898 units while domestic sales declined by 2.4% to 181,700.
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The market in the last few months was boosted by new model launches delayed from the first half of the year, particularly from brands such as Mercedes-Benz, Honda and Ford. Toyota last month launched the new Corolla Cross compact SUV which was expected to lift the brand's sales significantly in the final months of the year.
Toyota reported a 3.4% sales rise to 100,003 vehicles year to date, helped by strong demand for the Corolla and RAV4 models, while Yulon Nissan sales fell 4.2% to 27,292 units; Mercedes-Benz 24,724 (+3.1%); Honda 23,646 (-8.2%); Ford 21,621 (+29.1%) and Mitsubishi 20,161 (+1.0%).
