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German car manufacturers are losing market share in Hong Kong after the end of tax relief.
South China Morning Post Author Anita Lam UPDATE Monday, June 17, 2013, 5 47AM.
German car brands are losing market share in Hong Kong as a weaker yen and a new rule of emissions urged European cars a tax incentive scheme since April have made their Japanese rivals more competitive.
The market share held by BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Audi fell to 11 2 percent 11 5 percent and 7 1 percent, respectively, last month 16 percent 14 4 percent and 8 3 percent in December last year, internal sales data compiled by the Association of car shows traders.
Toyota, which surpassed last year's sales in the city, won a larger share of the pie in May 18 7 percent, as against 17 5 percent at the end of last year.
Traders and brokers of the decline in the share of European brands was expected, since most buyers bought their cars before 1 April - the day when all but one of the 74 European green cars have lost their entitlement to tax relief up to 75,000 HK, the government has raised the bar on what qualified green vehicle.
Although many Japanese models have also failed to make the revised green car list, many Toyota, Honda and Nissan models continued to qualify for the break.
European cars have performed well in the first quarter, as buyers wanted to catch the last train of the tax exemption regime, but Japanese cars are catching up quickly now, said Johnny Ng, general manager of the car dealership Inchcape The removal of tax relief does not put the price of European cars by many as automakers and dealers have absorbed some of the increase.
Volkswagen Hong Kong General Manager, Thorsten Jaede said launching new models was the best solution for Change Golf 7, launched in March, has helped boost local sales to 401 cars last month - up 21 percent of the average 331 sales each month in the first quarter.
Sales of BMW, Mercedes and Audi has fallen from 13 to 35 percent and 37 percent last month, compared with the average between January and March.
Michael Lee, general manager of Zung Fu, exclusive distributor of Mercedes-Benz in Hong Kong, said that despite a slowdown in April, sales have increased by 13 per year percent year on year during the first five months, waiting figure annual sales exceed last year's despite the cancellation of the tax exemption.
The European Chamber of Commerce is urgent that the government review its tax incentive system, which it is not entirely fair to the European players.
From 1 April, the Department of Environmental Protection believes green cars if their emissions are at least 75 percent below the maximum permissible level Before that, cars that emit less than 50 percent of the level would eligible.
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