Taiwan’s new vehicle market was unchanged at 35,073 units in January 2026, compared with 35,064 units in the same month last year, according to registration data compiled by Taiwan’s Ministry of Transportation.

Despite more working days in January compared with a year earlier due to the timing of the Lunar New Year holidays, the market failed to make progress. Compared with strong vehicles sales in December, when volumes increased by 14% to the 47,303 units, the market last month was down by almost 26%.

The domestic economy expanded by a faster-than-expected 12.7% year-on-year in the fourth quarter of 2025, up from 8.2% growth in the previous quarter, reflecting mainly strong exports – driven by strong overseas demand for AI-related semiconductors. Consumer spending rose by 3.4% year-on-year, up from 1.2% previously.

Sales of imported vehicles declined by 12% year-on-year to 14,561 units in January, reflecting shipment delays following a surge in deliveries at the end of last year, while sales of domestically produced vehicles rose by 11% to 20,512 units, driven by popular models such as the Honda HRV. Sales of battery electric vehicles (BEVs) plunged by 50% to 1,107 units, in the absence of deliveries by Tesla, with Toyota’s bZ4X leading the segment with 291 units, followed by BMW with 228 units, Luxgen with 128 units and Porsche with 103 units.

The overall performance of the individual brands varied significantly last month, with market leader Toyota reporting a 9% decline to 11,614 units, followed by its Lexus luxury division with 3,173 units (-12%); Honda 2,583 (+90%); CMC with 2,216 units (+6%); Ford 1,761 (+115%); Hyundai 1,645 (+33%); and Mercedes-Benz 1,573 (-49%).

GlobalData expects the Taiwanese light vehicle market to grow by almost 10% to 429,000 units in 2026, following a 10% decline to 390,000 units in 2025, driven by continued government incentives. The market is forecast to grow more moderately in 2027, by 3.1% to 443,000 units.