New vehicle sales in Taiwan rose slightly in December, by 0.6% to 42,217 units compared with 41,950 sales in the same month of 2016, according to local reports citing company data.
Full-year sales increased by 1.1% to 444,669 units last year from 439,629 units in 2016, the highest level since the market posted a historic high of 514,000 units in 2005.
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Vehicle salesin the last two years have been driven higher by government scrappage incentives and in recent months also by aggressive marketing campaigns by the leading brands.
Demand for imported vehicles is also increasing strongly, particularly for higher specification vehicles with additional safety features.
Toyota and Lexus distributor Hotai Motor reported an 8.2%fall in sales to 128,084 units in 2017 from 139,495 units in 2016, with its market share falling from 31.7% to 28.8%.
Mitsubishi distributor China Motor Corporation reported a 4.0% sales rise to 48,248 units last year from 46,398 units, while Yulon Nissan – which is also responsible for the local Luxgen brand – saw its sales fall by 4.7% to 44,723 units from 42,631 units in the same period.
Honda Taiwan's sales jumped by 24.5% to 34,071 units from 27,361 units in 2016 on strong demand for the HRV and CRV models.
