The biennial auto show is set to open late this month in Taipei, offering car lovers a sneak preview of upcoming vehicle models -- against a backdrop of record low vehicle sales this year.
This year's show will have 29 auto vendors and distributors showcasing 33 brands with over 240 new vehicle models, concept cars and heavy motorbikes, Cheng Ching-tien (
The last show had 29 auto vendors displaying 38 brands and some 200 new models.
The 2008 Taipei International Auto Show, organized by the distributors association, will open on Dec. 29 at the Taipei World Trade Center, Exhibition Hall I.
The nine-day event will be open from 10am to 6pm daily, with admission costing NT$250, the association said.
Cheng said he expected the event to attract more than 170,000 visitors, similar to the number of visitors at the last fair.
Automakers are expected to display their latest models and technologies to increase public exposure and drive up vehicle sales ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday after government data showed record low sales this year.
"Total new vehicle sales in Taiwan this year could be around 320,000 cars, lower than the 366,000 cars sold last year," Cheng said.
The market hit a 10-year high in 2005, when 510,000 cars were sold.
As high fuel costs and uncertainty in financial markets have eroded consumer confidence and lowered consumption, the number of applicants for license plates for locally made vehicles -- used as an indicator of new car sales -- declined 10.3 percent last month from a year earlier to 23,554 units, the latest data provided by the Ministry of Transportation and Communications showed.
For the first 11 months of the year, the figure dropped 10.8 percent year-on-year to 299,366 units, the government data showed.
"The market will see better prospects next year as automakers are likely to target potential customers with fuel-efficient and environmentally friendly models," Cheng said.
"Private consumption is expected to grow stronger after the legislative and presidential elections next year," he said.
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
RECORD-BREAKING: TSMC’s net profit last quarter beat market expectations by expanding 8.9% and it was the best first-quarter profit in the chipmaker’s history Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), which counts Nvidia Corp as a key customer, yesterday said that artificial intelligence (AI) server chip revenue is set to more than double this year from last year amid rising demand. The chipmaker expects the growth momentum to continue in the next five years with an annual compound growth rate of 50 percent, TSMC chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) told investors yesterday. By 2028, AI chips’ contribution to revenue would climb to about 20 percent from a percentage in the low teens, Wei said. “Almost all the AI innovators are working with TSMC to address the
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”