The automobile sales in Taiwan for the whole of 2005 are expected to hit 480,000 units thanks to stabilizing oil prices and auto makers' promotion, according to a report reaching Hong Kong from Taipei on Saturday.

It is the latest forecast by Taiwan's Industrial Economics and Knowledge (IEK) Center under the Industrial Technology Research Institute.

The IEK based its forecast on the sector's solid performance in the third quarter, during which 104,000 units were sold, marking an increase of 9.2 percent over the figure for the same quarter a year earlier.

The IEK predicted that the automobile industry's production ( including compact cars and components and parts) for the third quarter in Taiwan will hit 299 billion new Taiwan dollars (8.9 billion US dollars), a 5.5 percent increase year on year.

Total output of compact cars for the January-September period will grow by 6.9 percent over the year-earlier figure, while the figure for automobile components and parts will increase by 3.6 percent, according to the IEK.