PTW sales in Taiwan rose for 13th consecutive month in Nov.

Taipei, Dec. 9, 2003 (CENS)--The powered two-wheeler (PTW) sales in Taiwan rose for the 13th consecutive month in November to 59,000 units in November, up 25% from one year earlier, according to the number of new licenses issued by the Ministry of Transportation and Communications.

The annual PTW sales volume in Taiwan is expected to break 750,000 units this year, but is likely to slip to a normal level of 700,000 units next year after growing for two consecutive years. The top-two PTW makers, Kwang Yang Motor Co., Ltd. (KYMCO brand) and Sanyang Industry Co., Ltd. (SYM), however, still set high production volume goals (for both domestic and export sales) for next year, at 440,000 and 300,000 units, respectively.

In November alone, Kwang Yang retained its No. 1 position last month, recording total sales of 25,710 units for a 43.5% share of the local market, up from an average of 33% seen in the first 10 months of the year. The firm attributed its better-than-expected sales performance last month to winning a bid to supply 5,705 police-use scooters to the government. The company sees no problem maintaining the status as the No. 1 supplier of motorcycles in Taiwan.

Makers said that the domestic PTW market still saw strong demand in the second half of the year and that even in the traditional off-season in the fourth quarter the sales remained very smooth as major PTW brands have rushed to digest their inventories of models equipped with two-stroke engines, which will soon be weeded out by the stricter fourth-stage emission regulations on the island.

In the first 11 months of the year, over 700,000 PTWs were sold and most PTW makers predicted that the December sales volume would be maintained at the level of 55,000 units. This year, makers estimated total sales of PTWs in Taiwan to reach 750,000 units, greatly outstripping the 660,000 units recorded last year.

All the top-three PTW makers in Taiwan are expected to achieve their original annual sales volume goals at 270,000 units for Kwang Yang, 250,000 units for Sanyang and 220,000 units for Yamaha Motor Taiwan Co.

Kwang Yang recently projected to sell 440,000 PTWs next year, including 234,000 units for domestic sales and 206,000 units for exports. The company explained that its high export volume goal was set based on its increasing shipment of many new products including new traditional PTW models, health-care electric scooters, and all terrain vehicles (ATVs).

Sanyang, however, show strong ambition to win back its long-lost No.1 position from Kwang next year. The company expects to sell 230,000 PTWs in Taiwan and export over 50,000 units from its Taiwan plants next year to challenge the annual production goal of 300,000 units.