Meanwhile, China Motor Corp (中華汽車), the nation's second largest automaker, has long acknowledged that export is the way to go if manufacturers intend to maintain profitability amid a saturated domestic market.
The company started to export its Veryca/Varica commercial trucks as early as 1994, which have shown steady sales in the Americas, Southeast Asia and Africa.
The trucks also gained a foothold in markets such as Saudi Arabia and Syria this year.
Simultaneously, the maker also sent 80 Mitsubishi Grunder large-sized sedans to the Philippines during the first quarter of this year, and there will be another 50 units exported in July, according to China Motor spokesman Hsu Li-min (許利民).
Around 600 units of the maker's Space Gear minivans have also been sold each year to the Philippines since 2004, he added.
Other markets
"We are now studying whether to expand exports of the Grunder and Space Gear to other markets including Russia, Middle East and South Americas," Hsu said.
He did not rule out the possibility that Town & Country minivans may be the next model to be exported.
Officially available this month, the minivan is the first locally assembled car from US maker Chrysler Group's partnership with China Motor, which has vowed to increase the revenue contribution of exports from its current 20 percent to 40 percent by next year to hit NT$20 billion (US$625 million).
Yulon Nissan Motor Co (
"Discussions with related partners have been ongoing for some time but it is not feasible for us in the near term," said the company's acting spokesperson Hsieh Ting-lin (謝汀麟).
Any exports will need to be tied in with the strategies of its Japanese partner Nissan Motor Corp, he added.
For now, Yulon Nissan -- whose Yulon Nissan Asian Design Center was established in 2003 and is one of Nissan Motor's seven global design centers -- will continue to leverage its role in its partner's worldwide design chain to increase the company's strategic positioning in Asia, he said.
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