Taiwan January 2020: Toyota RAV4 breaks volume and share records, Luxgen URX in Top 20

The URX is the highest-ranking Luxgen at home in almost 2 years.

The Taiwanese new car market has a difficult start in 2020 with January sales down a stern -10.7% year-on-year to just 39.417 registrations. Market leader Toyota (+8.1%) however swims upstream and posts the only gain in the Top 6 to reach 31.5% share. Mitsubishi/CMC (-5.8%) reclaims the 2nd spot it held over the Full Year 2019, distancing Nissan/Infiniti (-13.1%). Lexus (-15.6%) is up two spots on December to #4, outselling archenemy Mercedes (-24.1%). Honda (-42.1%) is hit hard and falls 4 ranks on last month to #6. Ford (+32.1%) shows unusual strength, scoring by far the largest gain in the Top 10 and posting two consecutive months above 2.000 sales for the first time in 4 years. Mazda (+16.4%) also stands out but falls one spot to #9. Finally local carmaker Luxgen (+3.6%) is showing a rare year-on-year gain thanks to the arrival of the URX crossover which breaks into the Top 20 for its second appearance in the Taiwanese charts, becoming the highest-ranking Luxgen nameplate since the U6 Turbo hit #16 in February 2018.

The Toyota RAV4 holds over 10% of the Taiwanese market for the first time.

Model-wise, after narrowly missing out on a historical annual pole position in 2019, the Toyota RAV4 (+112.7%) starts 2020 all guns blazing, breaking its volume record at 4.089 (previous best 3.739 last October) and posting its first ever double-digit market share at 10.4% (previous best 9.1% last March). Most importantly, the RAV4 outsells the traditional Taiwanese #1, the Toyota Corolla (+41.4%), by over 1.000 units this month. The Nissan Kicks (-8%) is faithful to the #3 spot it held over FY2019, while the Ford Focus (+298%) quadruples its sales year-on-year in 4th place and the Toyota Sienta (-26%) rounds out the Top 5 like last month. Notice also the Lexus NX up 83% to #7 and the Toyota Hilux up to #33.

Previous post: Taiwan Full Year 2019: Toyota Corolla resists RAV4 assault, Nissan Kicks up to #3

One year ago: Taiwan January 2019: Lexus up 83.7%, Toyota Yaris leads in market down -7.9%

Full January 2020 Top 10 brands and Top 80 models below.