HONG KONG, May 26 (Xinhua) -- Weak sales, soaring oil prices and the lack of new car models have driven down Taiwan's car production value in the first quarter of 2006, revealed latest local statistics reaching here Friday from Taipei.

    The production value of the car industry in the province reached 86.62 billion new Taiwan dollars (2.72 billion U.S. dollars) in the first quarter of 2006, down 15.1 percent over the same period of last year, local media reported, quoting latest official tallies released Friday.

    The production value of assembled cars dropped 18.6 percent to 49.02 billion new Taiwan dollars from January to March while that of automobile parts and components went down 10.1 percent to 3.76 billion new Taiwan dollars.

    Local officials attributed the fall to the decrease in sales of locally manufactured cars as only 125,000 cars were sold in the first three months, down 10.2 percent year on year.

    Soaring oil prices and the lack of new car models had also madec onsumers hesitate to write their checks on cars in the first quarter, local media said, because the market demand for cars was relatively low in the first quarter.

    Promotional packages offered by car sellers last year had already moved many local car owners in Taiwan to replace their old cars with 514,000 cars being sold last year, the highest number over the past 10 years. Enditem