Hotai Motor Co., the Taiwan dealer for Japanese car maker Toyota, said Wednesday that annual sales in Taiwan's automobile market will continue to grow on a recovering economy and the expiry of existing vehicle service life. The company, Taiwan's largest auto vendor which holds more than 30 percent of the total market share, is forecasting overall vehicle sales of 320,000 in Taiwan this year, said Tsai Ching-feng, general manager of the company's Toyota Products Planning Division, at a press briefing. 'As the economy is improving and vehicles now on the road reach the 10- to 15- year service life cycle, it is quite easy to see the Taiwan market returning to a sales level of 400,000 automobiles a year,' he said. Liu Yuan-sheng, head of the company's Vehicles Operations Group, predicted that annual vehicle sales in Taiwan will hit 330,000 next year and 400,000 by 2016. There were 6.77 million vehicles on the road in Taiwan in 2009, 46.1 percent of which were more than 10 years old, government registration figures show. If even 10 percent of the current automobile owners in Taiwan buy new vehicles, there will be at least 300,000 new automobiles on the road, Liu said. Liu urged the Taiwan government to follow Japan's lead and encourage the replacement of old vehicles in the interest of environmental protection and energy conservation. Meanwhile, Japan-based Toyota Motor Corp. was not as optimistic about Taiwan's auto market. The company has forecast overall sales of 290,000 vehicles in Taiwan next year, which is similar to the number in 2009. It said the Taiwan economy will be affected by China's, which is likely to slow down next year. 