Taikoo Group (太古集團) plans to reintroduce the Skoda vehicle brand to Taiwan starting in January, an official at a subsidiary said.
This will be a comeback for the Czech brand, which was sold in Taiwan for nine months in 2005 and 2006.
Taikoo is expected to launch five Skoda series next year: the Superb and Octavia in the first quarter, the Fabia and Roomster in April and the Yeti in May.
“Some of these series were not introduced [here] before and we will bring in the latest, brand new models,” said Martin Aris Tsai (蔡泗銘), general manager of Liberty Motors Ltd (利奔國際汽車) under the Taikoo Group.
TARGETS
For the first year, the distributor aims to sell around 1,500 Skoda vehicles and hopes to be selling 5,000 annually within five years, Tsai said.
In December 2005, Formosa Automobile Corp (台朔汽車) clinched a deal with Skoda Auto AG — an affiliate of German auto giant VW Group which includes Volkswagen AG and Audi AG — to bring in 12 models under the Octavia, Superb and Fabia series.
But Formosa put its plan to produce Skoda vehicles locally on hold because the cars did not sell well, partly because of weak buying sentiment. It stopped selling Skoda within a year.
BETTER LUCK
Taikoo is confident, however, that its partnership will bear fruit. The company plans to deepen ties with Skoda Auto once a proposed economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA) between Taiwan and China is signed next year.
It is mulling a plan to team up with Skoda to produce Skoda cars in Taiwan and export them to China, Tsai said.
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