New vehicle sales in Taiwan fell by 17.5% to 32,391 units in March from 39,260 units year earlier, according to local reports citing registration data compiled by the directorate of highways.
This followed a 27% year on year decline in February, resulting in a 15.8% fall in first quarter sales to 96,174 units from 114,200 units in the same period of last year.
Imports continued to gain ground in March with volumes falling by just 10% to 15,919 units and by 8.5% to 44,688 units in the first quarter of the year.
Toyota brand sales fell by 10.4% to 24,644 units in the first quarter with the RAV4 accounting for 7,098 units while the Lexus brand accounted for a further 5,126 units, up by 11.4% year on year.
Yulon Nissan's sales fell by 9.3% to 8,106 vehicles year to date, with the Kicks its best selling model with 3,746 units, followed by Mitsubishi Motors which, through its China Motor Corporation distributor, reported an 8.4% sales decline to 7,792 units year to date as the Veryca and Delica models accounted for 3,926 and 2,010 units respectively.
Honda saw its sales plunge by almost 26% to 7,574 units in the three month period, with sales of the CRV and HRV models amounting to 3,501 and 2,001 units respectively, while Mercedes-Benz sales were down 6% at 7,281 units.