Taiwan’s Automobile Sales Results in the First Half of 2023

Automobile sales in Taiwan in the first six months of 2023 increased by 15.6% from the same period of the previous year to 234,853 units. In the first half of 2022, sales of imported cars were sluggish due to supply disruptions, but as supply recovered in 2023, the ratio of imported vehicles rose to 49.1%, an increase of 4.7 percentage points. Meanwhile, the market share of Japanese brands decreased by 4.4 percentage points to 55.4% due to the sales expansion of Hyundai Motor, Tesla and MG.

In January 2023, Toyota’s local sales company Hotai Motor announced that it expects Taiwan’s automobile sales to reach 450,000 units for the full year of 2023. The company cited the recovery in automobile supply as a positive factor, however, it also called attention to the economic slowdown in Taiwan. In May 2023, Taiwan’s executive branch the Executive Yuan revised its forecast for the real GDP growth rate for 2023 from 2.12%, announced in February, to 2.04% due to sluggish exports triggered by deteriorating semiconductor market conditions. This would be the lowest level since 1.47% in 2015 and could negatively affect new car sales.