Sales of New PTWs in Taiwan Down 13% YoY in July

Taipei, Aug. 6, 2012 (CENS)--Taiwan’s sales of new powered two-wheelers (PTWs) dropped the third consecutive month in July, down 13% year on year (YoY), pushing the annual growth rate from positive to negative to make realizing the 600,000 unit goal difficult.

Despite downturns in the domestic and European market, PTW manufacturers in Taiwan are raising production and launching new models in anticipation of college students returning to school in September.

The number of newly-licensed PTWs decreased 13.2% YoY in July, the third-highest monthly decline this year, according to the data complied by the Ministry of Transportation and Communications (MOTC), resulting in domestic sales in the first seven months slipping 5.6% YoY to 346,241 units.

Without pressuring distributors promising to maintain 40% market share, Kwang Yang Motor Co., Ltd., the long-term No. 1 PTW vendor in Taiwan, saw sales in July decrease 18.3% YoY to less than 25,000 units.

Yamaha Motor Taiwan Co. , the second largest PTW maker in Taiwan, also saw sales in July down 14% YoY, but market share returning to 30%, thanks to its newly released “Cygnus X” series.

Industry sources say that the sluggish economic climate and popularity of public transport will depress the domestic PTW market in the long term, and that, despite launching new models in September, the domestic PTW sales will sag in the second half.