Taiwanese Vehicles Market in September 2023 grows for the 8th month in a row after a -18.9% in January, with new sales reaching 37,079 (+3.5%). YTD figures at 350,893 are up 12.8% from the prior year. Lexus jumps 5 spot into second place (+67.3%).
Market Trend and Outlook
The National Development Council (NDC) stated on the 16th of October that its most recent forecasts show Taiwan’s gross domestic product (GDP) growing by about 1.5 percent in 2023 amid improvements for the export-oriented manufacturing sector. This forecast is consistent with data from the second and third quarter of 2023, showing that the economy grew 1.7% and 2.1% respectively.
Interestingly enough the rebound reported in Q2, following two consecutive quarters of GDP contraction, was driven by private consumption , which increased 12.1% (y/y). This figure is consistent with the year-on-year growth of YTD sales in the Taiwanese Vehicle Market. In September 2023 it grows for the 8th month in a row after a -18.9% in January, with new sales reaching 37,079 (+3.5%). YTD figures at 350,893 are up 12.8% from the prior year.
Looking at cumulative data up to September 2023 brand-wise, the leader remains Toyota with 91,952 sales (-0.4%), far in front of Lexus -up 5 spots- with just 24,094 sales (+67.3%).
Honda falls 1 spot 3rd with 20,516 sales (+0.7%), followed by Mercedes at 18,182 sales (+7.1%), Ford at 17,405 (-3.9%), Hyundai -up 4 spots- at 16,965 registrations (+46.1%) and Nissan -down 3 spots- in 7th with 16,189 sales (-6.9%).
CMC falls 3 spots into 8th with 14,374 sales (-15.3%), in front of Tesla at 14,342 (-105.3%) and BMW closing the Top 10 with 14,000 sales (+4.8%).
Looking at specific models the Toyota Corolla Cross is the best seller despite a 7.0% loss from the previous year, followed by the Toyota Town Ace up 81.9% and 8 spots in the rankings.
Medium-Term Market Trend
The Taiwanese market has presented an overall growth in recent years, rising from 327,615 sales in 2010 to 438,145 in 2019. Despite the overall increase in demand between 2010 and 2019 , there have been some minor losses: -1.6% in 2012, -0.5% in 2015 and -3.0% in 2018.
In 2020 the Taiwanese Government was able to contain the Covid-19 virus through effective quarantines and avoid extreme measures like the lockdown. Mainly for these reasons the light vehicles market reached the current all-time high of 454,783 sales (+3.8).
Demand for light vehicles fell 1.1% in 2021 and in 2022 dropped even further (-4.0%). A combination of factors were behind the industry struggle: a disruption in the global supply chain caused by a lack of raw materials, in particular for the production of microchips, and the Governments push towards Evs.
These factors will continue to put downward pressure on sales in the Taiwanese market, that in the first months of 2023 has already shown signs of struggle.
Tables with sales figures
In the tables below we report sales for top 10 Brands.
