Hotai Motor Co (和泰汽車), the local sales agent of Toyota and Lexus vehicles, yesterday kept its vehicle sales target for this year unchanged on expectations that the robust sales from January to last month would offset a recent weakness amid rising COVID-19 infections.
The company still aims to sell 154,000 vehicles this year, up 5.48 percent from 146,000 units last year, it said in a presentation paper, after vehicle sales surged 118.3 percent year-on-year to 54,297 units during the first four months of this year.
That gave Hotai a market share of 34 percent in Taiwan.
Photo: Amy Yang, Taipei Times
After offering a revamped Toyota Sienna in March, the company plans to launch more new models in the second half of the year to spur growth, including the Gazoo Racing (GR) series from Toyota Motor Corp.
The GR Yaris would be available next quarter, while the GR 86 would hit the market in the fourth quarter, Hotai said.
The company also retained its forecast for new vehicle sales in Taiwan at 440,000 units for this year, down 3.72 percent from last year’s 457,000 units, because of a shortage of automotive chips and the effect of a COVID-19 outbreak.
If the number of cases could be curbed in two to three months, there could be a rebound in demand, the company said.
Rising vaccinations would also help, it said.
Hotai’s net profit soared 44 percent to NT$5 billion (US$179.71 million) in the first quarter, compared with NT$3.47 billion in the same period last year, company data showed.
Earnings per share jumped to NT$9.16 from NT$6.35 a year earlier.
Revenue expanded 15 percent to NT$56.1 billion, from NT$48.75 billion, during the same period.
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