Taiwan August 2024: Toyota Town Ace signs first pole position in devastated market

The Toyota Town Ace is the most popular vehicle in Taiwan in August.

The Taiwanese new car market sinks -17% year-on-year in August to 29,403 units, sending the year-to-date tally into negative at -1.6% to 307,584. There are a few explanations for this brutal fall. August 4 marked the start of the traditional folk month, a weak period for new car registrations. Also, on July 30 the Industrial Development Administration of the Ministry of Economic Affairs announced the implementation of a new control system for Chinese components assembled in Taiwan from August 1. This means a letter of commitment on the “localised supply chain cooperation value ratio” must be submitted. This has sent shockwaves to Taiwan’s automobile industry and impacted sales negatively.

Toyota (-16.1%) follows the market and remains ultra dominant at 28.2% share. Not impacted by localised components as it is a pure importer, Mercedes soars 63.9% year-on-year but only achieves 6.1% share vs. 6% so far this year. Lexus (-13.5%) is pushed down to #3 but resists relatively well. Honda (-31.2%) is hit hard at #4 ahead of Hyundai (-17.6%) and a solid – in context – BMW (-7%). Volkswagen (-21.1%) struggles year-on-year but jumps up to #7 and 4.1% share vs. #13 and 2.7% year-to-date. CMC (+19%) and Mazda (+0.2%) are the only additional Top 10 members in positive with Mitsubishi (-27.2%), in dire straits, closing out the Top 10. Notice also MG off -54.6%. 

Model-wise, the Toyota Town Ace (+41.4%) delivers a first ever pole position thanks to soaring sales. The traditional leader, the Toyota Corolla Cross (-38.2%), ends the month just 11 units below. The Toyota RAV4 (-30.4%) is also in a difficult situation but manages to hold onto the third place, a ranking is also has year-to-date. The new Yaris Cross is up two spots on July to #4, making it four Toyotas in the Top 4 like one year ago in August 2023. The CMC Veryca (-22.4%) is up three ranks on last month to conclude the Top 5 ahead of the Tesla Model Y (+36.3%) up 22 spots to #6.

Previous month: Taiwan July 2024: Toyota Corolla Cross ultra dominant, YTD figures tilt into positive

One year ago: Taiwan August 2023: 4 Toyotas in Top 4, MG HS breaks ranking record again

Full August 2024 Top 10 brands and Top 60 models below.