New vehicle sales in Taiwan increased by 6% to 37,829 units in May compared with 35,686 units in the same month of last year, according to local reports citing registration data compiled by the Directorate of Highways.
This followed sharp declines in previous months and brought the cumulative year-to-date sales total to 168,683 units, down by 8.5% on the 184,305 units sold in the same period of last year.
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Sales of imported vehicles rose by 13.2% to 17,969 units last month but were down by 1.5% at 78,641 units YTD to claim just short of 47% of total vehicle sales in the five month period.
Hotai Motor, distributor of Toyota, Lexus and Hino vehicles, saw its sales jump by almost 33% to 10,560 units in May, thanks to strong demand for the newly-launched Toyota Corolla Altis sedan and RAV4 SUV.
Sales YTD were 3.3% higher at 45,616 units. These best-selling models are expected to help drive the overall market forward in the coming months.
Yulon Nissan sales increased by 4.1% to 2,942 units in May but were 4.6% lower at 13,862 units YTD while Mercedes-Benz sales were down by 6.8% at 2,630 units last month and by more than 23% at 12,149 units in the five month period.
Honda Taiwan saw its sales plunge by 28.5% to 2,617 units last month and by 4.2% to 12,880 units YTD while Mitsubishi Motors saw its sales jumped by over 23% to 2,146 units, but were still almost 15% lower at 9,796 units in the five month period.
