Mitsubishi Motors Corp, Japan's fourth-biggest automaker by sales, is in talks to buy a stake in Taiwan-based China Motor Co's (中華汽車) venture in the southeastern Chinese province of Fujian.
"Mitsubishi has expressed an interest in buying a stake and the companies are in talks,'' said Zheng Zhengda, assistant to the general manager at South East (Fujian) Motor Corp (
Tokyo-based Mitsubishi Motors declined to comment.
Mitsubishi is trying to expand outside the US to reduce its reliance on that market, where it gets most of its profit.
Toyota Motor Corp, Honda Motor Co and other automakers are stepping up investment in ventures in China, to increase their presence in the fastest-growing large-car market in the world.
"It makes sense for Japanese automakers to have several alliances in China, enabling them to expand faster," said Yoshio Inamura, who helps manage the equivalent of about US$335 million at Tokyo-Mitsubishi Asset Management.
The Chinese market is forecast to grow by a quarter this year, while European sales may drop 4.3 percent with a 3 percent decline in North America, according to the London-based World Markets Research Center.
"We have nothing to announce at the moment," Mitsubishi Motors spokesman Koichiro Uchida said.
China Motor, Taiwan's largest maker of trucks and vans, is 15 percent owned by Mitsubishi, which in turn is 37 percent owned by DaimlerChrysler AG.
South East in March started making its first sedan car, the Lioncel, which is based on the Mitsubishi's Lancer model, said Zheng. South East Motor makes and sells Delica and Freeca brand light vans in China.
The company plans to introduce the Savrin and Veryca vans in China next year, Zheng said.
Mitsubishi Motors shares fell 1.5 percent to 261 yen in Tokyo, while China Motor shares fell 2.5 percent to NT$58 in Taipei.
ISSUES: Gogoro has been struggling with ballooning losses and was recently embroiled in alleged subsidy fraud, using Chinese-made components instead of locally made parts Gogoro Inc (睿能創意), the nation’s biggest electric scooter maker, yesterday said that its chairman and CEO Horace Luke (陸學森) has resigned amid chronic losses and probes into the company’s alleged involvement in subsidy fraud. The board of directors nominated Reuntex Group (潤泰集團) general counsel Tamon Tseng (曾夢達) as the company’s new chairman, Gogoro said in a statement. Ruentex is Gogoro’s biggest stakeholder. Gogoro Taiwan general manager Henry Chiang (姜家煒) is to serve as acting CEO during the interim period, the statement said. Luke’s departure came as a bombshell yesterday. As a company founder, he has played a key role in pushing for the
China has claimed a breakthrough in developing homegrown chipmaking equipment, an important step in overcoming US sanctions designed to thwart Beijing’s semiconductor goals. State-linked organizations are advised to use a new laser-based immersion lithography machine with a resolution of 65 nanometers or better, the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said in an announcement this month. Although the note does not specify the supplier, the spec marks a significant step up from the previous most advanced indigenous equipment — developed by Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment Group Co (SMEE, 上海微電子) — which stood at about 90 nanometers. MIIT’s claimed advances last
CROSS-STRAIT TENSIONS: The US company could switch orders from TSMC to alternative suppliers, but that would lower chip quality, CEO Jensen Huang said Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳), whose products have become the hottest commodity in the technology world, on Wednesday said that the scramble for a limited amount of supply has frustrated some customers and raised tensions. “The demand on it is so great, and everyone wants to be first and everyone wants to be most,” he told the audience at a Goldman Sachs Group Inc technology conference in San Francisco. “We probably have more emotional customers today. Deservedly so. It’s tense. We’re trying to do the best we can.” Huang’s company is experiencing strong demand for its latest generation of chips, called
GLOBAL ECONOMY: Policymakers have a choice of a small 25 basis-point cut or a bold cut of 50 basis points, which would help the labor market, but might reignite inflation The US Federal Reserve is gearing up to announce its first interest rate cut in more than four years on Wednesday, with policymakers expected to debate how big a move to make less than two months before the US presidential election. Senior officials at the US central bank including Fed Chairman Jerome Powell have in recent weeks indicated that a rate cut is coming this month, as inflation eases toward the bank’s long-term target of two percent, and the labor market continues to cool. The Fed, which has a dual mandate from the US Congress to act independently to ensure