Kenneth Yan (嚴凱泰) taking the helm at Yulon Motor Co (裕隆汽車), which assembles and sells cars for Yulon Nissan Motor Co (裕隆日產), means the company has officially entered the "Yan" era, industry watchers said.
Yulon Motor announced late on Friday that Yan, who was the company's vice chairman, will officially take over from his mother Wu Shuen-wen (吳舜文) and become the firm's new chairman.
The 95-year-old Wu, who stepped down in order to spend more time with her family, was also elected honorary chairperson for her contributions to Yulon's research and development capabilities.
Wu was the driving force behind Yulon's growth over the past decades and was instrumental in laying the foundations for the nation's automobile industry, the company said in a statement.
"Yan has effectively been running Yulon Group for the past 18 years since returning from the US. He is the one who built the company to the size it is today," Sam Wu (吳鴻昇), an analyst at Yuanta Core Pacific Capital Management (元大京華投顧), said in a telephone interview yesterday.
Yan came back to Taipei in 1989 after his studies at Rice University in the US to help run Yulon Group's businesses.
After Yulon Motor lost money for the third consecutive year in 1995, Yan decided to restructure the carmaker by moving its Taipei office and its Hsintien factory to a site in Miaoli with lower overheads.
Approximately 600 staff left the firm during the six-month transition period.
The 42-year-old Armani-clad Yan also introduced the Cefiro, the best selling vehicle that "lifted the standard for locally produced cars" at the time, Wu said.
He was also behind the strategic move to spin off Yulon Nissan from Yulon Motor in October 2003, in a bid to further enhance the firm's relationship with Japan's Nissan Motor Co.
Yan is expected to continue to push for the development of a Yulon Group own-brand vehicle, despite the company denying the plan, Wu said.
Reports last month said that Yulon had invested more than NT$10 billion (US$301 million) in an own-brand car project, with five new cars in the pipeline.
Meanwhile, Yulon Motor also said that former vice premier Lin Hsin-i (
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