Auto sales in Taiwan for German luxury car maker Mercedes-Benz are projected to go down by 18 percent this year from a year earlier, better than a projected 45 percent decline for the overall auto market here, a company official said yesterday
“The luxury car market segment is shrinking this year, but less than the general market,” Wolfram Geisler, president and chief executive officer of Mercedes-Benz Taiwan Ltd (台灣賓士), told reporters yesterday.
By the end of last month, only 121,000 domestic and imported passenger cars had been sold on the Taiwan auto market so far this year. Geisler said he expected the Taiwan market to consume at most 180,000 new vehicles this year, which he said was “the lowest ever” compared with 275,000 units sold last year, and 463,000 units in 2005.
In the first nine months of the year, 35,000 imported cars were sold in Taiwan, down 30 percent from a year earlier, while the luxury car segment slipped 27 percent to 27,000 units.
“It shows no sign of recovery yet at this moment,” Geisler said, adding that he didn’t think anything positive will happen this year.
Aside from high oil prices that have forced people to refrain from buying cars, other factors such as the recent US banking crisis will also affect auto sales, which he said “are not in Taiwan’s control anymore.”
Geisler made the remark as Mercedes-Benz launched its updated B-Class edition and the C-Class Estate five-door station wagon in Taipei yesterday, with prices starting from NT$1.65 million (US$508,000) and NT$2.09 million respectively.
The company introduced two models of C-Class Estate, C200 Kompressor Estate and C280 Estate, with a limited offering of 20 units each.
Geisler said 24 orders had been received, and he expected the C-Class Estate to be more popular next year for buyers who desire spaciousness with less fuel consumption.
Quanta Computer Inc (廣達) chairman Barry Lam (林百里) is expected to share his views about the artificial intelligence (AI) industry’s prospects during his speech at the company’s 37th anniversary ceremony, as AI servers have become a new growth engine for the equipment manufacturing service provider. Lam’s speech is much anticipated, as Quanta has risen as one of the world’s major AI server suppliers. The company reported a 30 percent year-on-year growth in consolidated revenue to NT$1.41 trillion (US$43.35 billion) last year, thanks to fast-growing demand for servers, especially those with AI capabilities. The company told investors in November last year that
Intel Corp has named Tasha Chuang (莊蓓瑜) to lead Intel Taiwan in a bid to reinforce relations between the company and its Taiwanese partners. The appointment of Chuang as general manager for Intel Taiwan takes effect on Thursday, the firm said in a statement yesterday. Chuang is to lead her team in Taiwan to pursue product development and sales growth in an effort to reinforce the company’s ties with its partners and clients, Intel said. Chuang was previously in charge of managing Intel’s ties with leading Taiwanese PC brand Asustek Computer Inc (華碩), which included helping Asustek strengthen its global businesses, the company
Taiwanese suppliers to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC, 台積電) are expected to follow the contract chipmaker’s step to invest in the US, but their relocation may be seven to eight years away, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said yesterday. When asked by opposition Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Niu Hsu-ting (牛煦庭) in the legislature about growing concerns that TSMC’s huge investments in the US will prompt its suppliers to follow suit, Kuo said based on the chipmaker’s current limited production volume, it is unlikely to lead its supply chain to go there for now. “Unless TSMC completes its planned six
TikTok abounds with viral videos accusing prestigious brands of secretly manufacturing luxury goods in China so they can be sold at cut prices. However, while these “revelations” are spurious, behind them lurks a well-oiled machine for selling counterfeit goods that is making the most of the confusion surrounding trade tariffs. Chinese content creators who portray themselves as workers or subcontractors in the luxury goods business claim that Beijing has lifted confidentiality clauses on local subcontractors as a way to respond to the huge hike in customs duties imposed on China by US President Donald Trump. They say this Chinese decision, of which Agence
RSS