Taipei, March 9, 2010 (CENS)--The sales of new powered two-wheelers (PTWs) in Taiwan in February totaled 23,150 units, down 46.9% year-on-year (YoY) but more than doubled from only 11,700 in January, according to statistics compiled by the Ministry of Transportation and Communications (MOTC).

The long-term No. 2 player Yamaha Motor Taiwan Co. gained a surprising 51.3% market share last month, but admitting the share was abnormal.

Kwang Yang Motor Co., Ltd., the No. 1 player in the past 10 straight years, said that it would publicize sales figures after March, when most distributors will have digested the so-called `new secondhand` models, which are pre-licensed to win higher sales bonus or government subsidy.

Industry insiders said that about 100,000 `new secondhand` PTWs were licensed in late 2009 due to the government`s US$123 subsidy given each PTW sold in Taiwan, which expired on the last day of 2009. Such pre-licensing is expected to clearly affect normal new-PTW sales in the first half.

However, they added, the strong month-on-month (MoM) shipment growth in February bodes well for new PTW sales in the following months.

New PTW Sales in Taiwan (Jan.-Feb.)
Maker	Feb. Volume	Market Share	YoY	Jan.-Feb. Volume	Market Share	YoY
Yamaha Taiwan	11,865	51.3%	-22.1%	15,799	45.3%	-22.8%
SYM	5,711	24.7%	-46.5%	9,434	27.1%	-41.4%
KYMCO	5,017	21.7%	-65.1%	8,600	24.7%	-56.6%
Others	557	2.3%	--	1,015	2.9%	--
Total	23,150	100.0%	-46.9%	34,848	100.0%	-43.3%

(by Quincy Liang)