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Yulon Nissan, university agree to promote innovation

Yulon Nissan Co Ltd (裕隆日產汽車) and the National Taiwan University of Science and Technology signed a memorandum of cooperation to promote design innovation and resource sharing during the opening ceremony of the fourth annual Yulon Nissan Automobile Design Competition yesterday.

The competition attracts teams of students and professors from universities and colleges across the country. Its popularity has risen since its inception, with 48 schools having entered the contest. A total of 474 teams and about 1,500 participants participated last year.

"The competition is intended to promote innovation, as innovation is the way of the future, as well as the key to success in the international market. It must be promoted in schools," Yulon Nissan president Wu Hsin-fa (吳新發) said.

The university will work with Yulon Nissan in promoting mechanical design, information technology, research, academics, as well as sharing equipment and library resources, to benefit students who aspire to become car designers, university president Chen Shi-shuenn (陳希舜) said.

The domestic car design industry is able to tackle minor exterior and interior design changes satisfactorily, but local facilities, experience and resources are not enough when it comes to mechanical testing and design, Steven Yang (楊湘泉), spokesman for Hotai Motor Co (和泰汽車), said by telephone.

Another industry veteran agreed, citing a limited domestic market.

"The domestic market is too small to support a full-fledged car design industry," said Chen Chun-liang (陳俊亮), spokesman for Honda Taiwan Co (台灣本田).

Sales of new vehicles fell 10.8 percent year-on-year to 326,000 units last year, marking the lowest number of vehicles sold in two decades, data released earlier this month by the Ministry of Transportation and Communications showed.

"Car design is a very specialized field, composed of only a select group of people from major car design centers in Japan, Europe and the United States," Koju Huang (黃興儒), general manager of Yulon Nissan Design Center, said on the sidelines of the ceremony.

"It is not easy for students in Taiwan -- or any other country -- to become car designers without undertaking specialist training in these places," Huang said.

Taiwan could develop an advantage in car design if its competitiveness in Internet and communications technology could be integrated with the automobile industry, said Jeng Jeng-ywan (鄭正元), dean of the university's office of research and development.

Students interested in joining the competition have until April 13 to sign up.
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