Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/01/05
By: Tien Yu-pin and Frances Huang 

Taipei, Jan. 5 (CNA) Car sales in Taiwan dropped more than 2 percent in 2018 from a year earlier, amid uncertainty over economic growth in the second half of the year and trade frictions between the United States and China, according to government statistics.

The data showed car sales in Taiwan totaled 435,135 units in 2018, down 2.1 percent from a year earlier, although sales of imported cars increased by an annual 6.3 percent to 197,281 units, accounting for 45.3 percent of the total.

Market analysts said the local car market was propped up to some extent by government subsidies for the purchase of clean energy vehicles.

For the month of December 2018, car sales in Taiwan rose 16.6 percent from a month earlier to 41,993 units amid strong promotion by sellers, but the figure was 0.5 percent lower than a year earlier, according to the statistics.    [FULL  STORY]