Do you think Taiwan has more luxury cars than other places?

[MikeN1]

@tommy525

Back in the day used to think HK was the place to see a lot of fancy cars

Yep- Lamborghinis and Ferraris with no place to drive.

[OysterOmelet]

I can’t find it now, but Taiwan has promised the EU that if they sign a free trade deal, France’s and Britain’s struggling auto industries would be in the black overnight.

[OysterOmelet]

EU Member States can increase their exports to Taiwan by at least 50% on sectors of their primary specialization – e.g. machinery and cars for Germany; consumer goods, agriculture and services for France; and services for the UK; business services, electronics and electrical machinery for the Netherlands. Both France and the UK would turn their current deficit in automobile sector into a surplus by doubling their exports and improve their surpluses on agricultural products by €200-€400 million each.

https://www.roc-taiwan.org/public/SK_en_news/51100221271.doc
Note: What it actually referred to was trade deficits in the auto sector, not losses at the company level.

[DKaoshuing]

@Brianjones

I asked them before. They said that hybrids are very expensive to repair if you crash , gas costs are quite low in Taiwan. Also Prius is a small car, they prefer bigger cars like Wish .
There was a subsidy program reCently , I don’t know if that covered hybrids or what…I’ve only seen one Tesla taxi so far.

This is interesting. In New Zealand there are many Prius Taxi’s and well some private cars. What is interesting the control monitor screen is in Japanese in country where few read Japanese. I wonder is this the case in Taiwan (doubtful since Japanese built ones drives on the right side), or the screen is in English (like US, Aussie) or in Chinese.

[OysterOmelet]

In the US Asians pretty much drive silver Corollas, Honda Civics, or Priuses. Couldnt tell you how many times I got into the wrong car when I park and get Vietnamese food.

[bluejasn]

@Shui

Why do people care so much about how their car looks like, but not about where they live? In most places in the world a nice car and nice home go together, but this seems to be much less so in Taiwan.

In Taiwan you never invite people to your home, whereas everyone can see your car and you can show it off. It’s the only country where Ive seen car gatherings so popular.

[ma3xiu1]

@Shui

Why do people care so much about how their car looks like, but not about where they live?

Without going into details, this is also part of other cultures, for example in Eastern and South Eastern Europe.

[Brianjones]

@OysterOmelet

Couldnt tell you how many times I got into the wrong car when I park and get Vietnamese food.

That’s pretty funny .

[Brianjones]

@bluejasn

It’s the only country where Ive seen car gatherings so popular.

I have a Ford focus , you have a Ford focus, let’s make a club and drive together !

[Shui]

True, though these Eastern European countries (Russia, Ukraine, …) are much poorer overall in comparison with Taiwan on a GDP per capita basis

[bluejasn]

@Brianjones

I have a Ford focus , you have a Ford focus, let’s make a club and drive together !

Yea Ive seen clubs here for those low end cars too…Just owning a car is something to show off here.

[MikeN1]

@ma3xiu1

Without going into details, this is also part of other cultures, for example in Eastern and South Eastern Europe.

Evading the taxman is easier when the asset is mobile

[Andrew0409]

@MikeN1

Evading the taxman is easier when the asset is mobile

In Italy it’s the opposite. There are tax police driving around. They come bother you if you drive a really nice car asking you questions and digging into your business.

They know no one can actually be rich like that with the level of taxes and government regulations/bureaucracy Especially how expensive the cars cost with all the taxes they slap on it. Must not be paying taxes if you can buy a nice car.

This is why sadly you no longer see Ferrari and lambos in Italy besides tourists renting.

[frank_hnd]

You can tell if a car is leased or rented by looking at the license plate, they begin with the letter R. Also, its easier to get a car leased by using your company, you can use the lease as a tax write-off.

And let’s agree on something, I love Taiwanese people but once you put them behind the wheel… they are all asshole drivers, doesn’t matter if it is taxi driver driving a Toyota Wish, those little blue trucks moving goods or a white BMW 3 series… all the same!

[Taiwan_Luthiers]

This is bull.

On a prius there’s a button that releases any acceleration locks (which saves fuel) and allows much faster acceleration than it is normally capable of.

However the problem with Prius or any modern cars is they’re complicated to fix, often they can’t be fixed by mechanics, the parts must come from Toyota.

[OysterOmelet]

@Taiwan_Luthiers

This is bull.

On a prius there’s a button that releases any acceleration locks (which saves fuel) and allows much faster acceleration than it is normally capable of.

However the problem with Prius or any modern cars is they’re complicated to fix, often they can’t be fixed by mechanics, the parts must come from Toyota.

You’re talking about the button that says POWER. That’s for changing lanes, that’s just like 2nd gear on a regular car. Doesn’t mean it can accelerate as fast as other cars.

[DKaoshuing]

@Brianjones

I totally agree, the number of semi expensive to luxury
cars on the roads and parking lots is ridiculous sometimes. I go to public sports centers all over north Taiwan, you will see many luxury cars parked there.
So many new SUVs and also huge numbers of Audis, BMWs, you name it.
They aren’t old cars either , they are usually quite new.
August car sales were up 30% on previous year.
There’s a bit of an obsession with owning/driving a nice car in Taiwan and yes many are driven by assholes going by their behaviour. The biggest number is of course cross over SUVs. God help it if one gets a scratch or a dent.
I also noticed a lot of newer cars seem to have copied Tesla’s designs.

And could somebody please buy a car that’s not white (70%), black (20%) or grey (10%). Fuck me that’s boring !

PINK porsche!, also I see an Orange and green ferrari around the hood here in KHH

[MalcolmReynolds]

Saw this snappy looking Lambo down in the Xinyi district the other day.

Nice car, but absolutely fucking ugly color! In Taiwan there is apparently a requirement that all rich people buy fancy cars in the ugliest colors possible to show how rich they are. I saw a taxi yellow colored Ferrari once. WTF?!?

[Taiwan_Luthiers]

Or they just picked that color because that’s what they have and that’s what the car is registered under. You can’t legally repaint cars into whatever color you want.

And to top that off the driver probably doesn’t even own the vehicle. He probably leased it. Who cares what color as long as it says Lamborghini right?

[ShutUpLegs]

Don’t all lambos come in garish colours? It’s hardly a subtle car anyway. Some of the wrapped ones I’ve seen here in London are crazy.