Toyota Corolla Altis remains Taiwan’s best-selling car for 17th year running

豐田「神A」是台灣17年來最熱銷的車型

Toyota occupies half the top-10, which includes only two imports


TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – The Toyota Corolla Altis sedan remained the best-selling car in Taiwan in 2017 for the 17th year running despite advances by SUVs and imports, reports said Tuesday.

The past year was a good year for car sales in general, posting the highest number of cars sold in 12 years, with a total of 444,669 vehicles sold, the Central News Agency reported.

The top car was the Corolla Altis, nicknamed the “godly A” (神A) by local fans, which saw 39,887 of its kind drive out of showrooms in 2017. The car is also popular as a taxi, not just in Taiwan, but also in other Asian countries, such as Thailand.

As Toyota achieves a regular market share of about 30 percent, its models occupied the complete top-three and half the top-10 for last year.

The RAV 4 came in at No.2 with 22,440 sold, the new Sienta at No.3 with 14,577, the small Yaris hatchback at No.6 with 12,052 and the Vios at No.10 with 8,569 sold.

The RAV 4 SUV was also one of only two cars in the top-10 to have been imported from overseas, both from Japan. The only other car on the list not manufactured in Taiwan was the Mazda 3, at No.9 with more than 10,000 sold.

Honda’s relatively new small SUV, the HR-V, finished at No.4 on last year’s list with 13,399 sold. At No.5 stands the Nissan Tiida, selling 12,222, the best-selling car from the Yulon Group.

Honda’s larger SUV, the CR-V, sold 11,345 to finish at No.7 for the year, with the Nissan Livina selling 10,394.

The past year was excellent for SUVs, for imports, which saw their market share reach 44 percent, and for luxury cars, with a market share of 17.8 percent or 79,042 cars sold, CNA reported.